Julia Maimone-Medwick is a mission-driven marketing leader with deep experience in brand strategy, events, and social media. As Senior Director of Marketing & Events at Modern Luxury, she leads campaigns for top luxury brands in New York and the Hamptons. With a background in both agency and in-house roles, Julia blends strategy and execution to create memorable, high-impact experiences.

In this episode, Erica Guider chats with Julia about her path from political science major to media strategist, interior designer, and co-operator of her family’s winery. Julia shares honest reflections on agency vs. brand-side life, sustaining meaningful professional relationships, and navigating imposter syndrome.

Alexis Carey is a social media and influencer marketing specialist with over 4 years of experience in the beauty, food and beverage, and lifestyle industries. As a Campaign Manager at Foodie Tribe, she drives brand growth through influencer partnerships and strategic campaigns. Outside of work, she creates fashion, fitness, and travel content on her blog, @fashiontoflow.

Since this interview, Alexis has stepped into a new role as a Campaign Manager for an agency. In this episode, Emily Mi Landri talks with Alexis about breaking into the social media world, building experience across the fitness, wellness, and beauty industries, and balancing creativity with business strategy. Alexis also shares actionable tips on content creation, influencer marketing, and tapping into trends to drive success.

Jennifer Cook has spent well over a decade in the fashion industry, working across wholesale, retail, and merchandising functions at companies such as Zac Posen, Suno, and Westerlind. While most of her career has been spent launching international brands in the North American market, she has recently pivoted into buying with a role at ONS Clothing. On the side she writes Mom Friend, a lifestyle publication focused on the intersection of motherhood, fashion, style, and life in Brooklyn.

In this episode, Sarah Shapiro chats with Jennifer Cook about her journey from working at Abercrombie as a teen to becoming a SoHo boutique buyer. Jennifer shares insights on her transition from PR to wholesale, her experiences in the fashion industry, and the creation of her Substack newsletter, Mom Friend, as a creative outlet and community space.

Monica Botkier is a pioneer and leader in the accessories space Founder and Creative Director of Botkier New York. Exited 2018 Entrepreneur, Co-Founder of Chosenwoven luxury merino lingerie. Author, Harper Collins Design.

On this episode, Monica speaks with her co-founder Olga Kapustina about the gamble she took to start her own handbag company, parting ways with it and the lessons she's put to use in starting over building a new company.

The Belarusian born, Brooklyn raised designer started her eponymous line in 1999. Her work was featured in Barneys for a decade along with numerous exclusive boutiques across the US.  Her clothes have been worn by celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Kim Kardashian, Katie Holmes, Brittany Spears and Rachel Bilson, among others. And her work was featured in major publications including Elle, Vogue, Bazaar, In Style, Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan,L’officiel , and Marie Claire.

In 2012, Kapustina, craving a life-change, closed her popular line and returned to her love of biological systems and engineering. After completing a degree in chemical engineering in 2017, she decided to marry her two passions with her unique ability to understand the languages of design and engineering. Kapustina taught sustainable design systems and materiality futures at the acclaimed Parsons School of Design.

In 2023, Kapustina launched Chosenwoven with her business partner Monica Botkier. A perfect amalgamation of her love of good design and engineering. Chosen woven creates luxuriously knit lingerie with one of her favorite materials: Merino Wool. 

On this episode, Olga speaks with her business partner Monica Botkier about how her decision to delay applying to medical school for a year paved the way for a career in fashion rather than the one she'd planned as a surgeon.

For 23 years, Greg Baratte has been a notable leader and innovator in the Digital, e-commerce and CRM space of the luxury goods industry.

Greg is currently working in the newly created Global Open Innovation team of Chanel, focusing on investing and supporting existing start-ups or building bespoke ventures; prior to this role he led http://Chanel.com globally and created the house’s first Global integrated Digital Services team.

In his positions at LVMH then Chanel, as well as creating and advising start-ups, Mr. Baratte has spearheaded multiple innovative initiatives and global programs. He contributed to the launch of the first multi-brand e-commerce platform for luxury goods in early 2001 when E-luxury.com was acquired by LVMH, then pivoted it into the arts & culture platform, nowness in 2008 ; launched the brands first e-commerce enabled websites, first CRM programs, digital and social media and marketing campaigns, influencers strategy, and omnichannel retail and customer service across multiple regions. He is now focusing on AI, Web3, other strategic emerging technologies and business models.

He currently shares his time between Paris, London and New York where he lives with his wife, and 2 dogs.

Iwona Waluk specializes in Beauty, Wellness, Fashion, Interiors, and Hospitality. Her creative process is to develop brands and their visual identities with a personal, contemporary sensibility, informed by the multicultural identity, a love for nature, arts, and the evocative power of objects.

She serves fearless entrepreneurs and companies to help them move in the direction they want. She wants to work with inspiring brands with a sincere interest in design, commitment to quality, sustainability, purpose, and “good” growth, so they can create a better community they serve.

On this episode, Iwona speaks with Emily Yeston about the beauty and benefits of a non-linear career path full of pivots.

Emily is the co-founder and CEO of modern French pharmacy skincare brand, Doré. After 5 years of working with her current business partner Garance, she became her business partner and COO of the media company Atelier Doré in 2016. Her previous experience includes working with both brands and publications such as Lucky Magazine, WWD and Oscar de la Rent across production, editorial and public relations. Emily has been invited to speak at conference and universities on the intersection of content and commerce.

In this episode, Emily speaks with Iwona Waluk about how the interview she thought she'd screwed up led to a career full of pivots despite the fact she hasn't switched jobs since.

As Senior Vice President of Global Direct Sales, Jennifer Parker was responsible for the strategic sales planning, execution and management of Peloton’s 140+ retail locations and inside sales representatives. Her team of more than 500 employees cultivate Peloton’s direct sales business of in-store experience, phone and chat introducing new customers to the Peloton Bike, Bike+, Tread, Row, Digital, Accessories and Apparel.

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Since joining in 2016, Jen grew Peloton’s retail footprint by 500%, largely contributing to the company’s rapid overall growth. With nearly two decades experience in corporate retail strategy, Jen has held roles at contemporary and luxury fashion labels such as Bloomingdales and Theory/Helmut Lang, where she served in several positions, including Vice President of Retail Operations and CRM, Vice President of Full Price Stores and Director of Retail Planning. Jennifer holds a BS in Marketing from Fairfield University. In her spare time, she can be found working out with Peloton, project managing her 3 kids’ life and sports schedules, and creatively trying to teach her kids how to earn their own money by creating their own businesses.

In this episode, Jennifer talks with Lilly Minkove about how her experience working in her parents' candy store set the stage for her career.

Lilly Liu Minkove is a consumer-obsessed marketing and strategy leader with over 20 years of experience leading and advising luxury, retail, consumer and technology brands. She is the founder of boutique strategy consultancy ArtLogica Group, and has been an advisor to brands like Spanx, Timbuk2, Kohl’s, CVS, Birdies and Invisalign. A quant geek turned luxury retail operator and strategic marketer, she has worked at best in class companies like Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Coach, Louis Vuitton, and Hair Cuttery Family of Brands. Lilly crafts tailored growth strategies for clients using a mix of data and experience, art and logic - giving ambitious brands a clear roadmap to growth.

In this episode, Lilly speaks with Jennifer Parker about how she has navigated a career path full of pivots and moves, whether from one company or one city to another, and the experiences that have allowed her to do so.

Stephanie Davila is an award-winning Creative Director with a focus on brand storytelling, content creation and creative strategy. She helps brands cultivate deeper connections with their customers through engaging content that converts. She has led copy, creative and social at some of America’s top fashion brands like Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch, Banana Republic, and Express. Prior to going brand side, she was a Senior Editor at InStyle Magazine and has written for Vogue, The New York Times and New York Magazine—to name a few. While at Oscar de la Renta, she wrote a book entitled, “An American Icon,” alongside Oscar.

On this episode, Stephanie chats with Kimara Mitchell about helping brands stay relevant, finding the best stories, and how her success at small and large organizations led her to start her own creative consultancy.

Kimara Mitchell is an award-winning creative director, photo art director, brand strategist, and designer. She’s worked on the agency side, at design firms, and in-house for brands large and small like Gap, Banana Republic, Grey, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Levi’s, Quay Australia, and Walmart. In addition, she is a content creator whose blog j’adore couture has been featured in The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and PORTER Magazine, and collaborated with brands such as The OUTNET, Valentino Beauty, Wyndham Hotels, and AllModern.

On this episode, Kimara talks to Stephanie Davila about going from an engineering major to working in design. how her time playing sports helps her manage teams and leveraging her other career as a content creator in her day job.

D’IYANU is an exciting up and coming African inspired brand based in Norristown, PA. Seeing a void in the market for a modern African inspired fashion line, her Nigerian roots inspired her to launch D’IYANU in Jan 2014. Both the brand and Addie Ajayi have been featured on the New York Times, Forbes, CBS, and Fox. She currently works with her brother and business partner, Dara Ajayi along with 15 other team members from their headquarters in Norristown, PA. Addie oversees the marketing, design, production, and financial aspects of the company and plans to expand the brand to Canada and the UK in 2023.

In this episode, Addie talks with Seun Olubodun about the college and post-college experiences that inspired the creation of D'IYANU and how she grew it from its initial roots of selling clothes in downtown Philadelphia.

Sarah Shapiro is a retail executive with 20 years of experience in merchandising and digital commerce at companies like Bloomingdale’s and Williams-Sonoma. She founded Retail Diary, a newsletter with 10,000+ subscribers, featured in The New York Times and Vogue Business. After Puck acquired Retail Diary in 2024, Sarah became the Retail Correspondent for Puck’s Line Sheet, covering shopping and consumer trends.

In this episode, Jennifer Cook interviews Sarah Shapiro where she reflects on her journey from studying fashion design at Syracuse to a decade at Bloomingdale’s, launching a Fitbit accessory brand, and transitioning into e-commerce and consumer goods. She also discusses founding the Retail Diary newsletter and its growth, leading to her current role as a retail correspondent for Puck’s Line Sheet.

Duke & Winston is a brand for bulldogs, their people & those who live with The Bulldog Spirit. Launched originally 2010 - 2016 as a trunk show, retail & wholesale business (sold through Urban Outfitters and over 80 national/international accounts) with no real target market & too many skus, Seun revived the brand in 2020 & with a renewed focus on what he loves most, bulldogs & the die-hard folks like him around the world who love them. Seun's ultimate goal is to be an example of how to successfully build a grassroots brand around a niche community.

In this episode, Seun talks with Addie Elabor about how a trip home to visit his parents in Boston ultimately gave him the creative inspiration to start his own brand.

Charlotta Hellichius is a passionate brand strategy leader unlocking change for C-suite clients across categories in the US and abroad. She has a proven track record of improving companies from the inside out, shaping product and services to customers' and employees needs, as well as crafting compelling comms and creative that strikes a chord. She began her career as a product designer, before becoming a technology trend forecaster, and starting her own business in the beauty category, called Baude. Originally from Stockholm, Sweden Charlotta currently lives in Rockaway Beach, NYC.

In this episode, Charlotta speaks with Gina Ciancone about the power of vagueness and her attitudes toward receiving feedback and the concept of failure.

Gina Ciancone is an in-house creative at Vespa, working between Milan, Italy and New York City. Her work focuses on concepting and managing the creative for global brand campaigns that help push Vespa into the future. Trained at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gina has worked in different areas of the creative industry, always applying a cross-cultural and strategic mindset to design challenges. She started her career in photography working for Annie Leibovitz, and has since worked for the AD100 firm, Howeler + Yoon Architecture, as well as founding her own company, Green Screen.

In this episode, Gina speaks with Charlotta Hellichius about her outlook on handling failure and how her career has brought her full circle with her Italian heritage. 

Pamela has a rich and storied career with over 20 years of experience in luxury retail.  Prior to launching Collab Society, she consulted for Arhaus, managing a freelance creative team, creating seasonal concepts, and working closely with the founder and his product development team, and for Roman and Williams Guild, helping to develop the brand’s merchandising arm.  Berick co-founded two active proprietary clothing lines for Anthropologie: Girls from Savoy, a women's clothing collection, and The Good Friends, a sweater line.  In her prior roles, Berick served as a VP at The Line, where she oversaw its merchandising, product development, styling, and retail programs, as a furniture, hardware and found objects buyer at Anthropologie, and as a women's designer clothing buyer for Barneys New York. Her international experience includes dealing and importing vintage and antique furniture from France and Italy as well as extensive travel with her husband and pups.

In this episode, Pamela speaks with Abby Bruce about how her mother's hopes that one of her progeny pursue something creative set her on a path that led her to pursue studying the oboe and becoming an opera singer before ultimately transitioning to a career in fashion.

Abby is a creative strategist and communications expert, sometimes known as a “PR lady” and always relied upon as a connector of dots and people. A natural Ideas Person and Strategic Planner, Abby founded her consultancy, Common Point while living in France in 2012 to bring unique skills and knowledge of international business, communications, journalism, creative writing, brand design, and relationship marketing to help businesses create stand-out strategies in a world that is getting smaller every day. The first half of her career was spent in the UK and Europe, where she worked closely with high-profile brands such as L’Oréal, Nestlé, Pantone and Maker&Son as well as thought leaders, tastemakers, movers and shakers that help share stand out strategies and make going to work even more fun. Now based in Charlotte, North Carolina to be living close to family and the heart of US furniture manufacturing (another love), Abby is looking forward to continuing her career from a different perspective...

On this episode, Abby talks with Pamela Berick about her experiences with work and motherhood in France, and the path that eventually led her back to the states, and North Carolina.

Hilary Jochmans is the Founder of PoliticallyInFashion, a community for all those in fashion – designers, manufacturers, artisans, retailers, models, lawyers, reporters, consumers – to learn about legislative and regulatory issues of key importance to the industry. The mission is to educate individuals on public policy; and empower them with this knowledge; to then engage with elected representatives on how these issues impact companies and consumers. Recent initiatives from PoliticallyInFashion include spearheading advocacy for the creation of a Fashion Czar in the US and a Call to Action for the Federal Trade Commission to update the Green Guides, a federal regulation designed to assist businesses in making lawful environmental marketing claims and the public in understanding and appreciating these statements. These endeavors have been featured in WWD, Marie Claire, British Vogue and Fashionista, among others.

Hilary is also the Founder of Jochmans Consulting LLC, a boutique government affairs practice. Previously, she was the Director of the New York State Governor’s Office in Washington DC where she served as the Governor’s chief liaison with Congressional leadership and the Administration. Hilary also spent a dozen years on Capitol Hill as senior staff in both the House and Senate. Hilary holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. She is the co-chair of the New York City Bar Fashion Law Committee; a Member Advisor of the American Influencer Council; an Advisory Board Member of the Model Alliance; and is a frequent speaker on panels concerning fashion and politics.

In this episode, Hilary talks with Yoana Strateva about how a professor's recommendation led away from her presumed career path and instead toward one combining fashion, government, legislation and entrepreneurship.

Yoana Strateva is a European attorney, who has lived in five different countries, at present based in Seattle, WA. Yoana holds a law degree from France and an LLM degree from Queen Mary University of London. Yoana specializes in Competition law, Intellectual property and has a special interest in Fashion law. Yoana obtained several certificates in Fashion law, and she is an alumna of the prestigious Fashion Law Bootcamp organized by the Fashion Law Institute.

Before moving to the United States, Yoana was an associate at a European law firm where her work involved cases in the area of Contract Law, Competition law, Trademark and Copyright Law. She has several publications in the field of Intellectual property. At present, her work is focused on Trademark and Copyright law.

Yoana has experience working in an international environment and advising multinational clients. She is also a European professional representative for Trademarks and Designs, and is also an active member of Sofia Bar Association.

In this episode, she speaks with Hilary Jochmans about her move from Europe to the United States and the differences in practicing and understanding the way fashion laws are enacted and interpreted between the two continents.

Kristen is the Founder of Luminate Brand Advisors, a consultancy that helps brands and retailers accelerate growth with a focus on omni-channel expansion, merchandising, and go to market. Kristen held roles such as President of The Americas at Marc Jacobs, EVP/Chief Merchant at Saks Fifth Avenue and President/Chief Merchant for several start-ups. Kristen partners with purpose driven brands to meet their potential at the intersection of brand, product, and commercial strategy.

On this episode, Kristen tells Katie Irving about the bold move that helped her earn her first job at Saks, where she worked for 20+ years, and how from there she moved to a startup with a completely different mission before starting her own company.

Katie Irving is a Whitespace Forecaster and the founder of MOONSHOT, a consulting agency that works with fashion brands to uncover first-to-market product opportunities that are deeply rooted in customer insights - not popular trends. Formerly the Consulting Director of Fashion at WGSN and Head of Concept at Abercrombie & Fitch, Katie delivers best-in-class advisory projects for leading brands including Farfetch, Under Armour, Athleta, GAP, Hollister, Target, Walmart and LL Bean.

On this episode, Katie talks with Kristen Sosa about her fascination with the relationships people do or do not forge with their clothing, and explains how her work in this space led her to start her own consulting business.

Christiana Mavromatis has over two decades of experience leading marketing and creative for iconic brands like Cartier, MAC Cosmetics, COACH, Peloton, W Hotels, L'Oreal, and Compass.

Christiana began her career as a creative in the advertising agency world before going brand-side, where she is now. She's passionate about using data to develop marketing strategy and to ensure creative efficacy, taking brands to cult status by accelerating affinity while also achieving the business's revenue and profitability goals.

In this episode, Christiana and Jessica Quillin chat about how an equally left-brained and right-brained approach has steered Christiana's success in driving results for some of the world's most iconic luxury brands.

With over 15 years of experience in high-growth startups within the hospitality industry, including hotels, spas, and food & tech, Cynthia brings a wealth of expertise to her latest venture—an UPF apparel brand, Ondine.

In this episode, Tina Yao interviews Cynthia, a hospitality industry expert. Cynthia shares her diverse career path, which includes working at renowned establishments such as the Standard Hotel in New York and launching her own B2B catering company. She discusses her latest venture, Ondine, a UPF apparel brand set to launch in the summer of 2025, inspired by her commitment to skin protection and aesthetically pleasing, natural-fiber clothing.

Jessica Quillin, PhD is the Co-Founder and Principal for It’s A Working Title, LLC, a boutique agency and think tank focused on content strategy and research for fashion, luxury, and the experience economy. Jessica is an experienced content strategist, published author, and the former Fashion Editor for Glass Magazine. She has an extensive background in fashion, luxury, and retail, including strategy consulting and magazine editorial work with a range of brands, designers, and celebrities, including Maria Grazia Chiuri, Virgil Abloh, Sandra Choi, Tiffany & Co, and Burberry, among others. Jessica holds a PhD in English Literature and Music from the University of Cambridge and authored a book on Percy Bysshe Shelley and music. She also is an avid runner who runs marathons for fun.

On this episode, she talks with Christiana Mavromatis about her career move from tech to fashion and how she's married the two while at the same time taking on not only starting her own business, but also launching a fashion tech social media site as well.

A pragmatic leader and idealist entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in business development and merchandising and collection management in the luxury and contemporary fashion industry in NY and Paris, Emily’s focus and expertise is to take a company to their next dream phase, whether through re-positioning or building a product from the ground up. Today, as co-founder and CEO of female-led fashion tech startup Etelier, Emily is excited to share her journey.

On this episode, Emily speaks with Rachel Hall Danes about how she went from working in finance in New York City to co-founding a tech startup that's based in Israel.

Rachel Hall Danes is a sales & solutions consultant for manufacturers and designers.

Previously, Rachel co-founded The Danes, a brand that solves construction and fit issues for women and has remained a top sell-through collection in Bergdorf Goodman’s couture department every day since 1993.

The collection is also available at Boyd’s Philadelphia and select Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue locations.

On this episode, Rachel spoke with Emily Meridor about getting started running a fashion startup with her boyfriend, and how one particular sale led her down the path to her starting a brand focused on construction and fit.

A storyteller at heart, Phil is dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ community. Thus, they make use of their skills, talent, and experience to help others tell their stories. In that spirit, they lend their voice to narrate other people's messages as a voiceover artist. Hoping to help listeners connect with the moving stories, They are committed to telling each story with authenticity, honesty, and grace.

Phil has always been interested in celebrating stories that connect people and ideas on multiple levels, but at the same time, challenge the way we think. As a black and trans individual, Phil had an intense desire to share their own journey and in 2018 began hosting their first podcast, Transition of Style, highlighting conversations about how some queer people use clothing to navigate the journey to an identity that feels most authentic. Phil is also the co-host of the I’m From Driftwood podcast, an organization collecting and sharing first-person LGBTQ+ video stories for over 12 years now.

Phil continues to participate in and moderate many panels, fireside chats, and trainings where they lend their insight on topics such as gender identity, style, diversity in technology, and podcasting. Currently, Phil is the senior producer with FC podcasts, a podcast production agency, and the creative force behind the New York Life Podcast, Love Takes Action, Pivot with Purpose with Meghan Houle and In Scope - The Healthcare Security Podcast.

In this episode, Phil speaks with Meghan Houle about the major career pivots they experienced to become a podcaster, and how they have arrived at their own definition of success.

Meghan Houle is a one-stop-shop for all things career pivots and personal development. She's a globally recognized Senior Executive Recruiter, an ACC accredited Professional Career & Business Master Coach, and host of the Pivot with Purpose Podcast.

Meghan has spent the past 20+ years working in the luxury, specialty, and consumer retail industries, placing high-achievers in their dream jobs and building high-performing executive teams. Her clients include globally recognized corporate retail brands to solopreneurs where she uses her credibility and expertise in the industry to help create profitable businesses by getting the right people on their teams with her expert talent development strategies

As an Executive Recruiter with The Bowerman Group, Meghan is engaged with some of the top global brands in the Luxury & Specialty retail space. She is an expert in finding talent to fill retail, corporate and wholesale positions across all of North America. She prides herself in providing exceptional service to both our valued clients and candidates in the recruitment process with a mission to find the right mix of talent, partnering with our clients to understand their job needs and provide talent solutions in a timely manner.

Meghan established her MHM Career and Business coaching platform as another offering to work with her should you be looking to navigate a meaningful career pivot or build strategic hiring plans for business owners. In her podcast, Pivot with Purpose, Meghan shares inspirational stories of incredible humans who pivoted their lives or careers to align living with more purpose and joy, sharing with listeners how they can do the same.

Meghan speaks with Phil Corin about what service means to her, and how she found her way from broadcast journalism to retail to recruiting and back to media.

Holly Cole is a retail executive with $3B in sales volume across companies including Neiman Marcus, Victoria’s Secret, Rue Gilt Groupe, as well as helping launch a DTC fashion startup. She has 20+ years’ experience driving merchandising strategies for eCommerce, DTC, brick & mortar, catalog and mobile.

Holly has been able to transform businesses and drive multi-million-dollar growth through strategy and implementation, building fashion-right assortments, focusing on target markets and delivering unique shopping experiences. She has overseen businesses from $25M to $300M and teams of 6 to 40.

In this episode, Holly talks with her friend and colleague, Kate Sheldon, about how her career started, the importance of customer centricity and how inspiration can be found nearly everywhere.

In 2007 Kate Sheldon founded Fashioneering LLC;  a management consultancy working internationally across classifications advising brands, retailers, investors, and service providers in the luxury goods, affordable luxury, and sustainability spaces.

Kate formally launched the Fashioneering Lab in January 2022.  A new division of her management consultancy comprised of a global team of industry leaders built to future-proof the fashion industry. 

The Fashioneering Lab is a comprehensive growth hub,  working globally with purpose-driven luxury brands (and those who hope to be)  providing advisory and tactical services, curated think tanks, collection audits, to fractional c-suites. 

Leveraging three decades of success, deep industry knowledge, and an extensive network in the world of luxury fashion; Kate currently works as a Fractional Brand President and Chief Merchandising Officer and through the development platform, The Fashioneering Lab to help emerging to heritage brands develop collections, assortments, and businesses that are both profitable and responsible. 

Kate got her start in Luxury Fashion as a designer with Victor Costa; notoriously known as “the knock-off king.” 

Eventually, Kate found her way to Neiman Marcus. After that, she would go on to spend over a decade as a merchant in Fine Apparel, and Couture Foundations buying the likes of CHANEL, DIOR, Ungaro, Christian Lacroix, PRADA, Etro, Missoni, Roberto Cavalli, Moschino, Alberta Ferreti, Nina Ricci, Donna Karen, Pucci, La Perla, SPANX, Carine Gilson, Wolford, Vera Wang, Reem Acra, Richard Tyler Couture, Badgely Mischka, Monique Lhullier, Oscar de la Renta and many more for the then 43 store chain and online business. Equally passionate and skilled in both the creative and business sides of the industry she describes her unique approach in three words... Creative   Thinking    Fashioneering

In this episode, Kate talks with Holly Cole about how powerfully the word "no" influenced her career path from designer to merchant to entrepreneur.

Emerald Carroll is a New York based creative director and brand strategist driving desire and growth on a global scale. 15 years of expertise in storytelling, strategy, and brand-building across media for legacy and new brands in luxury, CPG, fashion, beauty, retail, and lifestyle.

She has guided numerous disruptor brands through launch and lent counsel to heritage players such as Coach, Amazon, Revlon, Maybelline, Christie’s, Barneys New York, and more.

Driven by curiosity, intuition, and data, Emerald embraces new strategies and technologies while pursuing whitespace innovation. She currently consults on brand development, creative direction, and Web3 marketing.

In this episode, Emerald talks with Elizabeth Welborn about how she entered the world of entrepreneurship as a teenager, and where that early start has led.

Originally from Louisiana, Elizabeth studied International Business at Spring Hill College in Alabama and Spanish in Latin America. She resides with her children in Marin County, California, where she combines her business acumen, love of design, sustainability, fashion, food and horses in her luxury lifestyle brand, Stick & Ball.

On this episode, she talks with Emerald Carroll about the inspiration for Stick and Ball, and how she went about starting the business.

Kathryn Shah is the co-founder of Spring & Mulberry, a food-meets-wellness brand exploring a world of sweet beyond sugar. The company’s inaugural line our date-sweetened chocolate bars are topped with beautiful & fantastic-for-you ingredients, from mango with Urfa Chili to lavender with bee pollen, all with 0g added sugar. Kathryn was inspired to start the brand after a cancer diagnosis in her early 30s led her to quit refined sugar. Previously, Kathryn led global marketing at Pantone and held marketing positions at LVMH (Veuve Clicquot) and Unilever (Dove, Axe, Ragu). She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from The University of Michigan. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and baby girl.

On this episode, Kathryn talks to Allison Henry Aver about how studying economics led her to a career in brand management, and ultimately to starting her own company.

Tina Yau is a retail eCommerce executive with over 25 years of experience in fashion and beauty. Having held leadership roles at global brands such as A|X Armani Exchange, Saks Fifth Avenue, Estée Lauder, and Uniqlo, Tina has built a career on driving innovation, scaling businesses, and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

In this episode, Cynthia Kalfa interviews Tina Yau, a retail fashion veteran who is launching a new handbag line this summer aimed at empowering women on the go. Tina shares her journey from growing up in New York and studying at NYU, to her career in e-commerce with major brands. She discusses the evolution of e-commerce, her proudest career moments, and her transition from the corporate world to starting her own business, emphasizing the importance of resilience and passion in entrepreneurship.

Allison is the founder and creative director for Letter A, an all female-brand building agency based in Portland, Oregon.

Allison’s love of branding comes from over 20 years of leading top tier, in-house creative marketing teams that were integral to capturing the essence of the brand from A-to-Z.

Allison was the founding Design Director for the cult favorite brand, Kate Spade Saturday, led the re-brand of the heritage label Ann Taylor, was the first digital Art Director of Vogue.com, a Design Director at the prestige hair care brand Bumble and bumble under Estee Lauder and an art director for Mother’s Day at Hallmark Cards.

Allison received her Master’s Degree from the Designer as Entrepreneur Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and her BFA from Miami University in Ohio.

In this episode, she speaks with Kathryn Shah about how vests catapulted her into the fashion world, and eventually to the creation of her own branding agency.

After a 12-year career focus on social media marketing for Fortune 50 companies including PepsiCo, Disney, and General Electric, and with storied brands across European luxury houses including LVMH, Kering, Richemont, and Chanel, Gina Gretchko launched her own consultancy which helps brands define and scale their content strategies to execution.

Most recently, Gina built a best-in-class social media practice from the ground up for Saks Fifth Avenue and the HBC umbrella of multi-brand retailers (Saks OFF 5th, Lord & Taylor, Gilt Groupe, Hudson’s Bay). There, she partnered with executive leadership to introduce full-funnel social strategy, develop omni processes, establish critical cross-functional and platform relationships, as well as education and trust within the organization and its vendors.

Skilled in synthesizing brand strategies into compelling narratives, Gina personally secured partnerships and produced custom content with Virgil Abloh, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, Stella McCartney, Phillip Lim, Brandon Maxwell, Victoria Beckham, and Donatella Versace among many others. Her editorial direction and on-the-ground coverage for more than a dozen New York and European Fashion Weeks exceeded platform benchmarks and were emulated competitively.

In this episode, Gina talks with Grace Liu about adapting to the sea change in what digital marketing has become over the course of her career.

Grace is a brand-builder specializing in integrated marketing, content & social media within Fashion & Beauty. She has spent the last decade driving consumer engagement for iconic global brands, including growing Calvin Klein’s Instagram community from 500K to 15M+ through award-winning and culture-shaping content, and launching Laura Mercier digitally in the $106 billion Chinese beauty & personal care market.

In creating Gliu Studio, Grace strives to be a strategic advisor and resource to founders as they build their dream businesses, starting at the core with brand storytelling. Learn more at gliustudio.com.

In this episode, she speaks with Gina Gretchko about her roundabout academic path into the fashion and beauty industry and how social media marketing has changed since she started her career. 

Maria is a New York based fashion expert and historian. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although her love for fashion started very early in life reading every fashion magazine she would come across; Maria studied law. Realizing that albeit a great education it was not for her she perused her first Master in Fashion Management Experience and Design from SDA Bocconi in Milan similar to an MBA in Fashion. Following her tenure in Milan, Maria moved to New York where the job of fashion photo producer found her. After a couple of years producing in the city she moved back to Buenos Aires and continued setting up her own production company; Now Here Productions. She spent more than 10 years producing fashion shoots around the world catering to the most demanding clientele. In 2019 she moved back to New York and is currently pursuing her second Master’s Degree in Costume Studies at NYU focused on the history of dress and textiles in its broadest aesthetic and cultural context. Maria is pivoting her career from fashion photo producer to fashion historian.

In this Episode she speaks with Turna Uyar, Sotheby’s SVP about her transition from Formal Education to the creative world, from Law School into Fashion Photo Production and her recent education of Costume Studies at NYU.

Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Turna started her career at Young and Rubicam Advertising many moons ago and continued her career around Madison Avenue until she decided to jump to client side. She has joined the auction mega house Sotheby’s in the Spring of 2016 and is continuing to hold global business executive positions in the company.

Prior to Sotheby’s Turna held positions at the Fragrance Foundation, King and Partners, Publicis, Digitas and Wunderman, focusing on clients from multiple industries and Fortune 500 companies including art, fashion, finance, technology, beauty, luxury and lifestyle brands such as American Express, General Mills, Microsoft, AT&T, Citibank, Monique Lhuillier, Victoria's Secret, and Marc Jacobs to name a few.

On this episode, Turna speaks with Maria Chammah on her jump from advertising to the art business, and her work as a teacher.

Charlotte is a copy and content person raised in New York City by Condé Nast.

She specializes in beauty and fashion, clear, crisp messaging and lots of energy. Let’s do something different together.

In this episode, Charlotte talks with Katie Levine about how her experiences with beauty growing up led her into the industry, and her transitions between freelancing and working for one steady employer.

Katie Levine is a photographer new to the Phoenix area from NYC/LA. She got her start in the business through her internships at Vogue + being an assistant for Annie Leibovitz. Since launching on her own, she has worked with clients such as Kourtney Kardashian, Mary Fitzgerald of Selling Sunset, and Paper Magazine. Her goal is to make her subjects at ease while capturing high quality images. Since the pandemic, she's started offering FaceTime headshots which she now does for entire companies, private clients and campaigns. 

In this episode, Katie speaks with Charlotte Rudge about how she got her start in photography, and how FaceTime has changed her professional life.

Daniella Stromberg grew up on the vibrant streets of NYC, in the full-spectrum technicolor of the 1970s. Her teachers described her as “delightfully social.” Anything and everything that made life cozier was and still is Daniella’s obsession. Luxe, chic, cozy and comfortable became her passion. Hotel lobby lounges were her favorite place to hang out and concentrate on getting homework done.

It’s no wonder Daniella got her degree in holistic wellness. She went from being a private wellness coach with a celebrity clientele to eventually opening her acclaimed d’mai urban oasis in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 2004. She was a trailblazer as no one had opened anything on the strip of 5th avenue at that time, it was an Avenue of empty storefronts. She turned a barren neighborhood into a burgeoning commercial corridor dubbed "The Other 5th" with d’mai urban spa being the nucleus and healing center. Daniella received the prestigious award of Brooklyn’s best business owner and won best “spa of year” year after year.

On this episode, Daniella talks to Jenni Shaw about why she closed d’mai Urban Spa shortly after the worst of the COVID pandemic and moved to the North Fork of Long Island. She discusses running d’mai Wellness consulting and offering her expertise to luxury wellness and hospitality businesses both locally and across the country. 

Jenni Shaw is a freelance makeup artist with 15 years of production experience in New York City. In 2018 she started Shaw + Co., a boutique agency currently representing 8 phenomenal makeup artists for film, tv, advertising, fashion, celebrity, red carpet and runway. In March of this year Jenni became bicoastal and founded Zen Beauty in Sedona, Arizona. Zen is a company that combines allied therapies with makeup artistry to give clients the elevated experience of healing and nourishment coupled with a polished esthetic which results in a “beauty from within” effect. The Zen Beauty location will be opening this fall.

In this episode, she talks with Daniella Stromberg about what she views as the greatest catalyst for professional change and describes her definition of beauty. 

Carmen is a New York-based designer born and raised in Mexico. She attended Parsons The New School for Design and graduated as a finalist for the ‘Designer of the Year’ Award, Class of 2015. Upon graduation, Gama’s ‘Sustainable Urban Outerwear’ thesis earned her the
inaugural Eileen Fisher x CFDA Social Innovator fellowship. During her fellowship, Gama worked collaboratively to design a scalable and profitable remanufacturing system for the damaged RENEW Eileen Fisher garments. Gama is currently the Director of Circular Design at Eileen Fisher.

In this episode, Gama speaks with Lauren Fay about how her true passion for solution-based design and circular systems, and the people and experiences who steered her into this space in the fashion industry. 

Through this framework she is constantly challenging her design values by striving to design scalable systems that have the capacity to extend the life cycle and re-capture the value of pre and post consumer textile waste.

Carmen has also been featured in numerous publications including Women's Wear Daily, Business of Fashion, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, The New York Times and Harper’s Bazaar.

Rivya is most recently an x-JPMorgan Chase Governance, Risk, and Compliance Expert searching for her next opportunity. She is a legal and compliance expert with over a decade of experience in regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and operational resilience.  Currently pursuing an LLM in Fashion Law at Fordham Law School, she brings a unique perspective by blending her expertise in legal operations with a passion for the creative industries. She is dedicated to driving innovation and efficiency while exploring the intersection of law, business, and fashion.

In this episode, Shraddha interviews Rivya, a legal consultant pursuing her Masters in Fashion Law at Fordham University. Rivya discusses her extensive background in legal finance, her passion for fashion law that started in law school, and the transition from finance to fashion law spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. She also shares insights into the overlaps between finance and fashion law, her career journey, and advice for aspiring fashion lawyers.

Lauren B Fay works with brands and non-profits for the benefit of people and planet. Her main passion is preventing textile and clothing waste. She designs circular initiatives for retail companies and brands, and helps connect the dots in the circular economy with the team at Helpsy.
Her projects and events have been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, WWD, Refinery 29 and Sourcing Journal among others. Project partners have included: Eileen Fisher, Mara Hoffman, Stella McCartney, Ellen MacArthur, SmarterSorting, FairTradeUSA, Pact Organic, Coyuchi, and Avery Dennison.

She led one of the first Environmental Science research courses in the US on the impact of Fashion with Brown University in 2020. And she has given lectures at Bard, Barnard, NYU and Brown University.

On this episode, she speaks with Carmen Gama about how she used her entrepreneurial wiring to pursue sustainability and corporate social responsibility, and how transparency is crucial in fulfilling those missions.

Originally from Russia, Rita came to the U.S. as a Fulbright Program’s Graduate Student to study journalism and communications. Prior to that, she was an associate fashion editor at Sobaka.ru magazine in St. Petersburg, Russia, and a freelance writer for advertising agencies. In addition to that, she was involved in event and entertainment industries helping with St. Petersburg Fashion Week and nationwide gastronomic festivals. She is also a Cultural Vistas’ 2022 fellow (Edmund S. Muskie Professional Fellowship Program) promoting international relationships and collaboration, who's currently working in a creative production company in NYC.

On this episode, she talks with Ilina Luthra about her career as a journalist in Russia, various creative internships and how she decided to leave it all behind to pursue her dream of studying abroad and exploring the world through cultural exchange.

Ilina Luthra is a 2022 graduate of MS Business of Fashion, from Rutgers Business School. She moved to New York City after working her way up from being a Marketing intern through her undergrad, to becoming an Assistant Manager of Marketing and Communications at Good Earth, India's most precious luxury lifestyle brand.

On this episode, she talks with Rita Shmakova about her inside-Fashion podcast (the Roster Radio), what drove her to pursue a career in Fashion, the many challenges of being an International student, and what lies ahead in her professional journey.