institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. thanks for joining us s for a look at business and finance issues here in the washington region. if you buy theheine that washington is hollywood for the un fashionle, you should know about a well-known force working in the other direction. tory bur hasas added anonother boutique to her exclusive list of s stores. shwas making headlines and turning a prof. now the liline is one of the most lucrative in the world making her one of the most regnizable and powerful faces in the world of fashion, an

industry typically dominated at the top by men. she is also a wewell--known presence in washington. some of the city's most powerful women turned out at tysons galleria to toast the 44- year-old designer and the latest boutique, showcasing the clothehes and accessories that managed to exceed $100 million in sales by year four. revenues conontinue to grow despite the recession. she has also put her distinctive and lucrative logo to work for causes she deems important, including the rebecca project, a global human rights organization led by an executive direrector. malika saada saar and autumn vandehei. we started by talking to tory burch about business and the bottom line. >> let's talk about you

background as a businesswoman. when you first launcnch, you had a background in fashion but your critics dismisd u. you proved them very wrong. what do you tnk were the things you dido prove them wrong? >> i think one gd thing i did not do was to talk about what was doing until it hapned. you have to really believe in your concept having a unique idea, and then follow through. hearing those commentsere not necessarily true, so for me, it was something that i knew there was something missing. i had a five-year plan that was very diffent from where the company is. > i am sure yo five-year plan succeeded pretty quickly. you were a young mother raising six kids. the company grewo quickly.

did you think it was too big or diyou think let's keep going? >> i think it was a process for me for a size of growth. it is a strategic way owhere we are going. we always look at t company lo term. i wanted to build a company -- ii knew i wanted to build big company from day one. i knew i wanted -- i k knew w what i wanted to do. i wanted philanthrhropy to be a big part of that. >> tell me more for all of those working mothers. 6 kids in mhattttan. what was the give-and-take? why things were prioritized? >> it was something that was definitely difficult it is the hardest thing to do, balancing being a mother and a businesswoman. the girls were older.

i have three young boys. >> consulting. >> market research. for my boys, it was priorities, time managent. being home at 6:30 r regardless of what is happening at theoffice. that is why i think i was good at both jobs. >> the other thing that people are impressed with running a business aimed at women but largy run by men. do you ever encounter anyny sexism in the busininess? " i was often referreded to as a woman ceo. i never heard a man being referred to as a man ceo. that is how i want more women to be looked. >> were there other tricks at you learned? >> i think you rise above it and buililt a great company. showing people -- you really

prove yourself by making a great prproduct. >> in addition to a business woman, you are a notable philanthropist. why d you zero in on this chair ready? >> -- on this charity? >> i was really enamored d by the work they do with womennd girls. >> malika saada saar, you are the leader. >> we are a human rights organization for women and girls in the u.s. we help those in situations of violence poverty, and exploitation. those women andd girls who are survivors of sex trafficng survivors of rape, violence, poverty, and exploitation, they are the leaders in our organization for giving up voice for better policy so others do not have e to suffer. >> autumn vandehei people do

not realize that jim vandehei, your husband part of the duo at "politico." why did you choose to highlighght their work? >> i had the pleasure of meeting malika when i was still working in government. my background was in child protecveervices. i was so impressed by her and the surviors that i met in d.c. when i was w working in the bush administration. i was compelled -- that was in 2001. i was compelled to be a part of the real solutionnd the public policy work that she was building. >> a lot of nonprofits in d.c. all competing for attention. how do you get the focus that you need? >> we use the voices of the

survivors. instead of putting ourselves in between the individual and the issues and theecision makers, wheat and power of the women and girls to speak for t themselves. if it is their stories and their voices that are so powerful -- is their stores an their voices that are so powerful in the work that we do. >> ladies, kudos to a the great work thatou do. thank you for joining us. burch told us shehe plans to make a scouting trip to georgetow for the possibility of opening a second store in the d.c. area. up next, the construction sector, a focus on architects. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> welcome bac when you see conruction cranes on the horizon, youanet they are working on pls c created by an architect. our spotlight on small-business today, darrel rippeteau, president of rippeteau architects. welcome to "washington business report." you are veryisible in the field righght now. "washington siness j journal" had this to say about the economy. the architectu industry has beenn a depression, that there we so many alleged. wh are y seeing?g? >>we are seeining a great owth

this yr. our business has increed m more than 10% each month since january. i have spoken th some economists those at the eric institute of architts. earnings are kind of choppy, that is up and down, with architect. the general contractor's report although business is s so contraors are finding a l of wo around the worldld. i was going to bring that up in our roundtable with peter morici but it is importt to note that onof the big firms says a lot of eir work is coming from places like china. if you are imandarin-speaking architect, thehere are jobs to be. where are the jobs? >> we haven't found the property owners continue to have -- we

have fouound that property owners continueo have e a need. there is a certain amount of turnover with leased spa. in thihis environment making your public spaces s and your office buiildings mixed use buildldings making the public space is more attractive t people is very impoant. >> so the big tra binins outside showing that people are doing renovations inside. >> breaking dry wall, when you revamp buiuildings inside. >> you ve been a driving force behi the biannual builders' ball. it tk a hiaiatus because the econonomy has beeeen so pour. but it isack. >> it is a greatign of the economy.

despitite the recession and thehe one-year hiatus, the washington design and construction industry and a number of develelopers have been extremely generous. we are exceeding our budget for the amountnt of money we are giving out to charities. everythihing that cos i in in the next few days -- >> you architects are known as a creative bununch. this is a creati event. what else does it say? you had to take a one-year hiatus to a knowleledgehat the industry was in troub. would you call 88 troubling industry? >> i wld sayanging in anand growing, and i have no doubtbt about growowth in the future. >> we are still a free enomy with hope, where peopleith

ideas n achieve tir goals it. we are always gng to have people building donating and creating more for the future. yes, we hahave been through a rough patch. we have been through tight lending which stopped many people inn their paths. people have on ways to borrow money, and owners prroperty will continue to improve their property. >> ide from yourur own projects, me one building or design that excites you most right now in the d.c. area. >> oh my gosh. i have to say citi center d.c. it is a glorious proroject because it i is live, work, play in the heart of the capitol. >> think you're talking t to us about your industry. after the parade, the impact o

world finances on your wallet. and scandalous workplace for a great

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this could go@on for a while. >> we have exrienced a lot of turbulence and the wor economy thihis week and some allegations in e workplace. appear to discuss it all for our business rououndtable, per morici economics professor at the university of maryland, and another favorite back from maternity leave, jennifer nycz- conner from thewashington business journal." jennififer, you wrote a column n for

the tastof fe when you takake time off for anything about maternity leave. you said you had to teach yourself that not ery dayay you were going to get t 60 things accomplished. >> it is a whole new level of digital planning. >> washington is a workaholic citibank and you were going to write a book, do o this and that. maternity leave makes it harder because that is sabbatical as far as i am concerned. > when you come back, you realizeou have to take ca of chdren and your day job. >>eter, i am not going to make you talk about maternity leave but i am going to talk about the ade deficit and the economy. you said is the biggest single hindrance to jobs and t

economy. a little good newews this week. >> what a prices have been falling a bit which has helped. -- oil prices have been falling a bit which has helped. weee this inin w wholesale s sales. inventories are not going in the way we would expect going into the chchristmamas season. >> on cnbc this week, one of their expxperts said people need to realize this a global economy. the wasshington area gets that this is aa global economy. what are you sensing about the nerves that are afraid? >> we have people from all walks and all backgrounds and all the economies here. it is one of t those things thatt not many ofof us can really

connect the dots every time when it comes to what happens in the world, ily and greece, affectcts us here at home. i think we will see that more and more. >> if you live in a place like michigan, you know about it because you hav the japanese competition. that is just onene example. we do not really compete in washington compared to the globalal economy in the same way. ne york, washington, los angeles -- ty haveve done well. silicon valley and the rest of the country have been crushed by. >> we e do a greaeat deal of world trade. we have companies based in ourr area. talk to me quickly about italy. how much more serious error thehe proboblems in italy t then eece? if you look at the statistics,s, the u.s. could be in worse debt

than those other two cntries. >> italy os 133% of its gdp. people are living longer. body is migrating in. this is not an opportunity to trash battalalion culture. -- trash itatalian culture. because italy is so large, it is enough to take down t the banking system in europe and destroy the eurozo. for a long time now i have intained tt italy, spain greece, and portugal should have eir o currency. it is the ononly way those economies make sense. >> jennifer, quickly. to what everyone has been talking about this week.

herman cain's sex scandal, e paterno geing fired for his ignoring a s sex scacandal. anything that youou take away from either of those, looking at those workpla issues? >> they a sad and awful lessons but important lessons to bebe learned. if you look at what happed at penn state, , one of the proboblems was action was not immediately taken. when it comes to workplace harassment, the most importa thing toto do is to document objectiveland immediatelyly. do not hope it is going to go away yoyou have to deal with it now. >> if f you are herma cain, docucument it and d report it to otothers.. you workn a university campus and there is soso much talk about what role the university did or should have played. >> let's lo at penn state.

gee,e, what a shame. joee paterno and the footbalall program have bught in llions and millions of dollars. i wonder if this h had gone on in the philosophy dartment or the buness s school l whether the provost would hahave swept it under the rug it.t. it is time that we comto terms for the c corruptive influence of big time sports. are the to epare people for life. if they have a winning couple team, that is fine. a different set of goals in the acc, the pac 10, and others. >> have thereeen anany instructions from on high in the wawake of penntate t to a instructors? any talk on campus? >> no, and i would not expect

it. we have rules abo those things. you do n not need to have a sexual harassment code to kw that youu treat rereport somethi. the president shoulde not -- should not be sweeping it und the rug. >> all three of us on this issue of great. thank k you for joining us this week. stay with us. were going to be back with our

>> hang onto your wallet. : number o of the week is goining to cost you. the cost of f a thanksgiving dinner in the commomonwealth is going to jump 11% thiyear. that is $4.46 more than last year. americans spend 9.5% of their disposable income on food, the lowest percentagee of ny country in the developed world. we hope to see you right back here again next week for "washiton businessss report." captioned by the naonal caption it's about building

cars in america. it's all about jobs. it's all about respect. security. the american dream. [ jamaul ] good jobs in tough times. a chance to move up and do better. [ delaunta ] excellent healthcare. [ caletha ] beautiful benefits. what they used to call the american way. it still works here. [ jennifer ] not a sine layoff of aa u.s. manufacturing worker. [ glen ] not one. not one. doing things the right way. quality. [ jimmeka ] building cars that americanwant. [ jamaul ] right here in america. hyundai is an all-american success story. ♪ ♪