Podcasts about Intermix

Industrial-Electronic music legend Bill Leeb (Front Line Assembly, Delerium) signs to Iconic US-based label Metropolis Records to debut his solo album. Titled 'Model Kollapse', this record explores the intricacies of artificial intelligence and the very survival of humanity itself. Based in Vancouver, Bill Leeb is the mastermind behind electro-industrial scene mainstays Front Line Assembly and ambient-pop duo Delerium, having gotten his start with Skinny Puppy (under the pseudonym Wilhelm Schroeder). He is also a key member of other occasional recording projects, including Noise Unit, Intermix, Cyberaktif and Conjure One,  just to name a few.Leeb acknowledges the role that Metropolis Records has played in his recording career since the late 1990s, noting that “Metropolis Records have been and are one of the most important labels for alternative music on this planet and this album was made possible by my long-standing friendship with Dave Heckman (RIP), who continuously has supported us through the ages and gave us complete artistic freedom”. Tragically, Heckman died in the summer of 2022.  "I'm honored to fulfill my father's (Dave Heckman) lifelong vision and to be doing this project with a lifelong family friend I can honestly call family (Bill Leeb). This project is near and dear to all of our hearts here at Metropolis and I know it would make my father proud."   Nina Heckman Watch The Interview : https://www.youtube.com/@DJNocturnaPlease Like, Subscribe and Sharehttps://www.metropolis-records.comhttps://frontlineassembly.bandcamp.com

In the ever-evolving world of retail, success hinges on understanding the modern consumer's priorities: personalized shopping, timeless quality, and seamless experiences. Madewell, a denim-first brand, has leaned into these trends by redefining its in-store shopping and product strategies. With the rise of digital integration and customer-driven design, the stakes have never been higher for retail leaders to deliver exceptional experiences that resonate across demographics. How does Madewell leverage customer insights and leadership vision to stay ahead in a competitive market?Welcome to Retail Refined. In the latest episode, host Melissa Gonzalez sits down with Madewell President Adrienne Lazarus, as they discuss Adrienne's approach to leadership, the evolution of Madewell's denim-first ethos, and the integration of digital tools to enhance the shopping journey.Key takeaways from the conversation:Leadership That Centers the Customer: Adrienne highlights how clear communication and aligning teams around shared goals foster innovation and success.Denim's Ongoing Evolution: Madewell has introduced seven new denim fits, balancing classic styles with fashion-forward experimentation to inspire customers.Flagship Store as a Testing Ground: The new Soho flagship incorporates refined design and cutting-edge digital experiences, providing real-time insights into consumer behavior.Adrienne Lazarus, President of Madewell, is an accomplished leader with over 30 years of experience in building and scaling specialty retail and direct-to-consumer brands. She has led growth and transformation across luxury, contemporary, and multi-brand retailers, including as Co-CEO of CUUP and Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company, where she drove business transformation for retail and apparel clients. Previously, she served as CEO of Bandier and Frye and President of Intermix, guiding these companies through significant growth and two successful transactions. At Ann Taylor, she spearheaded a large-scale turnaround, achieving record profitability, and played a pivotal role in launching LOFT, growing it into a billion-dollar brand. Adrienne brings a deep understanding of modern consumers and a track record of innovation, positioning her to drive Madewell's continued success as part of the J.Crew Group.

Today, our guest is Scott Lux, Vice President of Global E-commerce and Technology at Esprit, a retail apparel and fashion company. Scott started his career in financial consulting at Fidelity before transitioning to program and product management at Infospace. From there, Scott moved into product management roles at companies like Chase, VML COMMERCE, L'Oreal, and American Express. Prior to joining Esprit, he led digital marketing and e-commerce initiatives at Diesel, John Varvatos Enterprises, Intermix, VIDEOSHOPS, and Eberjey. On today's episode, LogRocket's VP of Marketing, Jeff Wharton, talks to Scott about the evolution of e-commerce and how it has effected commerce as a whole; how SaaS has both improved e-commerce but has brought with it complexities like site performance and tackling a new user experience; and how to build a cohesive brand in a competitive landscape, underlining the importance of adapting to new customer touchpoints. Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlux/ https://blog.logrocket.com/product-management/leader-spotlight-scott-lux/ Follow LogRocket on TikTok! Love LaunchPod and the rest of LogRocket's great content? Follow us on TikTok for interview clips, UX tutorials, and more! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket combines frontend monitoring, product analytics, and session replay to help software teams deliver the ideal product experience. Try LogRocket for free today. (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr) Special Guest: Scott Lux.

Welcome to another episode of Intermix with Integris! In this episode our guest is Stephanie Melchert, CEO of Arlington Life Shelter. Arlington Life Shelter is committed to assisting individuals and families impacted by homelessness in North Texas create a path to self-sufficiency. Learn about their mission, goals, and how they are helping their local community. https://arlingtonlifeshelter.org/

Meet the woman who's revolutionizing networking to make it enjoyable and impactful for creatives. Emily Merrell is the Founder and Business Coach at Second Degree Society, Co-founder of Ready Set Coach and Podcast host of The Sixth Degree and Ready Set Coach podcast. Emily launched her career in the fashion world working in special events and marketing for high luxury brands Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch and Intermix. Since her leap into entrepreneurship in 2016, Emily's expertise in community building, networking and business coaching has been applauded and featured by Refinery29, Brit + Co, Girlboss, Forbes, Create & Cultivate and Huffington Post. Learn more about Second Degree Society: https://seconddegreesociety.com/ Learn about Emily's mastermind: https://seconddegreesociety.com/masterminds/ Follow SDS on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seconddegreesociety/ Over the Edge Podcast with Paige Ray is a weekly chat about pushing creative boundaries, making big moves without knowing all the answers and jumping off a cliff to our dreams while figuring out how to build a plane on the way down. Creative work is wild, but we can figure it out. Let's go over the edge together, friends. Get my free posing guide and a bonus sure-fire sales call script when you sign up for the PRC weekly email series Creative's Edge: https://paigeray.com/creatives-edge Learn more about Paige on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/paigeraycreative/ Visit the Paige Ray Creative website here: https://paigeray.com/

Ken interviews three experts in Retail store staffing for the inaugural Tech Talk podcast episode.Sharonda Weatherspoon is the SVP, Head of Retail Transformation, Client Development, and Operations, as well as the Co-Chair of North America's Diversity and Inclusion ERG. She has spent over 24 years at Ralph Lauren, surviving my tenure, and moving up through the ranks, starting as a General Manager, and in her most recent role, as SVP of retail stores from North America. Sharonda has always worked directly with the stores and fully understands the frontline experience where her focus has been to create the best customer experience and the appropriate staff to support it.Ron Thurston is the founder of OSSY, a platform that aggregates store employee talent from sales associate to leadership roles, enabling retailers and brands to easily access Aussie's labor pool. Ron is also the author of the Amazon bestseller, Retail Pride, championing joy and success in the service industry. Ron's book draws on his experience and store leadership roles with Intermix, San Laurent, Tory Burch, Apple, West Elm, and Gap. Ron also hosts a podcast, Retail in America.Mike Myers is the co-founder and CEO of Reflex and has spent the last decade building early stage companies as both a founder and an early stage venture. Reflex works with some of the top brands in retail today and helps brands leverage a flexible labor model to drive store performance. Retailers use Reflex to connect with experienced on-demand retail store associates and to flex their labor models to support the real time needs of the business.Key Takeaways from this episode are:1.    Evolution of Retail Staffing Post-COVID: The post-COVID environment has significantly changed the landscape of retail staffing. Retailers have had to adapt rapidly to evolving business models, leading to challenges in finding and retaining talent. Competing for local talent, dealing with the gig economy, upskilling rapidly, and identifying the right candidate profiles have become significant hurdles.2.    Shift Towards On-Demand Flexible Talent: The emergence of platforms like Reflex has transformed the staffing model. They facilitate connecting retailers with on-demand, experienced retail talent, allowing for real-time staffing adjustments based on business needs rather than fixed hiring plans.3.    Tech-Driven Recruitment Solutions: Reflex, as a tech platform, streamlines the staffing process. It provides a platform for retailers to access a pool of vetted workers for various roles, from back of house to front of house, offering flexibility in scheduling and facilitating worker-retailer feedback through ratings and reviews.4.    Challenges and Benefits of Adopting New Staffing Models: Trust remains a significant obstacle for retailers adopting flexible staffing solutions like Reflex. However, the platform's benefits, including reducing turnover costs, addressing immediate staffing needs, and potential cost savings in comparison to traditional hiring and retention methods, make a compelling case for its adoption.5.    Changing the Perception of Retail Jobs: The introduction of platforms like Ossy seeks to redefine the hiring process, especially for the retail workforce. It aims to replace traditional resumes with dynamic digital profiles, utilizing AI-driven algorithms to match candidates with suitable retail roles, focusing on soft skills, empathy, and curiosity, ultimately changing how individuals perceive and access retail job opportunities.6.    Industry Insights through Trade Shows and Networking: Sharonda gains industry knowledge and stays updated by attending trade shows like NRF. and various others. Networking through LinkedIn and connections with individuals like Ron and Mike allows her to stay informed about innovative solutions.7.    Innovative Solutions in Staffing: Both Ossy and Reflex offer platforms that provide accessible solutions through mobile applications and digital platforms, simplifying the staffing process compared to traditional methods like phone calls or emails. These platforms offer an automated and convenient way to connect available staff to positions.8.    Integration of AI: Both Ossy and Reflex are integrating AI into their platforms. Ossy aims to replace the traditional resume with a more interactive and multimedia-based platform for job seekers, while Reflex employs AI in the background to enhance the operational experience for workers and retailers without overtly marketing it as an AI platform.9.    Marketing Challenges and Strategies: Both platforms face marketing challenges in a crowded space. They are using strategies like word-of-mouth referrals, industry events (such as Shop Talk and NRF), and social media channels like TikTok and Instagram for worker acquisition. They also emphasize thought leadership, sharing insights, and building a presence within the retail industry.10. Funding and Business Challenges: Ossy is self-funded with an intention to create a new category, while Reflex has raised $12 million in funding and is focused on delivering for retail partners, launching new markets, and scaling worker experiences. Building the right tech infrastructure and understanding the time investment required has been a significant challenge for both platforms.

Welcome to another episode of Intermix with Integris! In this episode our guests are Maddie Glover (Director of Data, Reporting, and Evaluation) and David Lipchak (Director of Information Technology) from Any Baby Can. Any Baby Can is a leader in parent education, family health and child development programs in Central Texas.  Learn about their mission, goals, and how they are helping their local community. https://anybabycan.org/who-we-are/

In this episode of the Balancing Chaos podcast, Kelley sits down with Iman Hasan, the founder and CEO of the IHC Agency. Iman is a seasoned leader in the PR world with over 15 years of experience in luxury lifestyle and communications. Her ability to connect people and create innovative programs and brand synergies has driven the agency's success, especially in the world of wellness.Iman is not just a marketing expert, but also a wellness guru. On todays show they discuss the importance of taking accountability for your life and the role it plays in making better decisions. They also delve into the connection between emotional health, stress levels, and how the body responds and why Iman decided to use plant medicine as an opportunity to take her healing to a deeper level. Additionally, they explore interesting topics like the best wellness investments, implant illness, estrogen dominance, and how to value your own time and be most efficient version of yourself. Join Kelly and Iman as they provide insights and inspiration on developing a lifestyle that promotes authenticity, female power and self care. 

Our final recording, live and in-person, raw and uncut, from Groceryshop 2023 has our hosts, Ricardo Belmar and guest host Jeff Roster learning how to harness the power of spatial computing with returning guest, Neil Redding, Founder and CEO of Redding Futures! Part of our special cross-over event with This Week in Innovation podcast, Jeff and Ricardo sat down with Neil to understand how Auki Labs new product release is redefining retail operations via the benefits of spatial computing and augmented reality, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency for store teams. The trio discuss what the future looks like for spatial computing use cases in retail, attempt to forecast the market for spatial computing, consider applications with autonomous vehicles and robotics, and close the discussion with a fun look at how Apple's mainstreaming of spatial computing might impact the technology's future!We also bring you the latest episode in our "Blade to Greatness" mini-series. In this segment, we invite a retail industry leader to offer one skill or trait that all retail executives need to become great leaders. Whether in stores or at corporate, we'll uncover valuable tips and advice that you can apply to your own retail career path. Ron Thurston, co-founder of Ossy, author of Retail Pride, the Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career, host of the Retail in America nationwide tour and podcast, speaker, advisor, board member, and former retail operations leader at Intermix, Saint Laurent, Bonobos, Tory Burch, Apple, and Williams-Sonoma joins us to share his insights on the issues facing frontline retail workers and retail leaders today.In this episode, Ron talks to us about why it's so important for retail leaders to implement a career development culture as the first step to change their mindset and make change in the recruiting and retention of retail employees!NEWS! We are pleased to announce that the Retail Razor Show is a Vendors In Partnership Awards nominee for The Retail Voice Award at the upcoming NRF Big Show 2024! We're asking all our listeners and YouTube viewers to help us win by showing your love for our show in the voting polls:Here's how you can help by voting:1. Visit https://bit.ly/3QlKr4X2. Register to vote.3. Vote for The Retail Razor Show in The Retail Voice Award category.WOW! As we zoom past our 2-year anniversary on the show, we're honored and humbled to have hit the top of the charts on the Goodpods podcast platform!No. 1 in the Top 100 Indie Management Podcasts of the week chartNo. 2 in the Top 100 Indie Management Podcasts of the month chartNo. 5 in the Top 100 Indie Marketing Podcasts of the week chartWe can't thank our Goodpods listeners enough! We love your support! Please continue giving us those 5-star ratings and send us your comments!About our Guest:Neil Redding is a keynote speaker, author, Innovation Architect and Near Futurist. Neil has worked at the convergence of digital and physical for decades, and is an expert in spatial computing, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), AI and convergent brand ecosystems. Neil currently leads Redding Futures, a boutique consultancy that enables brands and businesses to powerfully the Near Future. Prior to founding Redding Futures, Neil held leadership roles at Mediacom, Proximity/BBDO, Gensler, ThoughtWorks, Auki Labs, and Lab49. Neil is also editor of Near Future of Retail, author of the forthcoming book The Ecosystem Paradigm, and advises multiple startups at the leading edge of the digital-physical convergence.Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023, 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, and RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, E-Motive, and Swag, Tag, And Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno. The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Goodpods: https://bit.ly/TRRSgoodpodsFollow us on Instagram: https://bit.ly/TRRSinstaFollow us on Threads: https://bit.ly/TRRSthreadsFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICasey

Kaelen Haworth has carved a unique path for herself in the fashion world, gaining institutional knowledge and refining her point of view every step of the way. After graduating from Parsons, Haworth set out to create her eponymous fashion line Kaelen, which was accepted into the CFDA Fashion Incubator and then sold by retailers such as Intermix and Shopbop. Taking her learnings from that experience, she then launched a second line, the direct-to-consumer and size-inclusive brand Second Sight. But after realizing that her favorite part of the job was curation, Haworth pivoted in 2020 from designing to editorial and celebrity styling. Now, she's embarking on yet another journey within the industry: This September, Haworth is opening a retail destination in Toronto called Absolutely Fabrics, a concept store that will stock both designer and vintage pieces, serve as a studio space, and host programming like trunk shows, shoots, and product-launch events. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our spotlight shines again on immersive commerce this episode! We are answering a critically important question for retailers - what is the future of video commerce? To answer this question and truly dive deep into the treasure trove of conversion that is video commerce we've invited Vincent Yang, co-founder and CEO of Firework to the show! Vincent guides us through understanding the true nature and capabilities of video commerce. It's a fascinating discussion where you'll come away with an incredible list of insights and best practices you can apply to your retail business! We start with livestreaming, move to shoppable video and areas far beyond. Join us as we venture into mid-funnel and bottom funnel marketing strategies, to brand awareness tactics, to understanding marketing vs advertising and learn how video drives human engagement online. If you thought livestreaming was all there is to video in retail – think again! You'll learn why a video commerce strategy is the digital equivalent to having an engaging store associate guide your customer journey.Plus, we bring you the fourth topic in our new leadership segment on the show – ‘Blade to Greatness'! Ron Thurston, co-founder of Ossy, author of Retail Pride, the Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career, host of the Retail in America nationwide tour and podcast, speaker, advisor, board member, and former retail operations leader at Intermix, Saint Laurent, Bonobos, Tory Burch, Apple, and Williams-Sonoma joins us to share his insights on the issues facing frontline retail workers and retail leaders today.In this episode, Ron talks to us about one of the most important skills a retail leader needs to master:How to reframe your current job search processes to hire the right person!We're currently at number 18 on the Feedspot Top 60 Best Retail podcasts list – if you enjoy our show, please consider giving us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts & help keep moving our way up the Top 20! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Wow! Join us in celebrating our top of the charts achievements on the Goodpods podcast player!No. 2 Podcast of the Week on the Management chartsTop 5 Podcast of the Month in the Management chartsTop 5 Podcast of the Week on the Marketing ChartsThank you Goodpods listeners! We love your support! Please continue giving us those 5-star ratings and send us your comments!Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023, 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, and RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, E-Motive, and Swag, Tag & Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno. The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Goodpods: https://bit.ly/TRRSgoodpodsFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICasey

Julie is a merchandising and e-commerce leader with over 20 years of experience working for companies such as Saks, Gilt, Google and Intermix. She is highly skilled at optimizing product assortments and inventory to achieve top-line growth and profitability. She is a results-driven, creative and collaborative leader who excels at problem solving, implementing best practices and nurturing teams. And as a strategic advisor and consultant, she has a proven track record in helping to launch and scale businesses through strategic merchandising management and organizational change. On this episode, Julie speaks with Yvonne Yip about the turns of fate that led her from a career in banking to one that mirrored that of her parents'.

Today as part of our Back to Basics of Retailing theme this season, we are once again focusing on people – the frontline workers in retail stores, and the process of hiring and retaining the best candidates. In this episode we answer two incredibly important questions– How do we change how we hire, connect, and match retail brands to retail workers, respectfully, transparently, and humanly? And can technology help? To answer these questions and more, we meet our latest Retail Transformer & fan favorite - Ron Thurston, author of Retail Pride, the Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career, Host of the Retail in America nationwide tour and podcast, former retail operations leader at Intermix, Saint Laurent, Bonobos, Tory Burch, Apple, and Williams-Sonoma, and now co-founder of Ossy, a business we'll hear more about in the episode and how it's disrupting the hiring process!Plus, we bring you the second topic in our new leadership segment on the show – ‘Blade to Greatness'! In this segment, we invite a retail industry leader to offer one skill or trait that all retail executives need to become great leaders. Whether in stores or at corporate, we'll uncover valuable tips and advice that you can apply to your own retail career path. Jeffrey McNulty, Founder and CEO of New Retail Ethos Consultancy, author of The Ultimate Retail Manual, and creator of The Ultimate Retail Course: Become a Retail RockStar returns to the show for this powerful new segment to discuss an incredibly important skill retail leaders need – supporting employee autonomy!Jeffrey is offering a special discount on his retail course for Retail Razor Show listeners with discount code RETAILROCKSTAR100OFF at this website: http://www.theultimateretailcourse.com/We've moved up to No. 16 on the Feedspot Top 60 Best Retail podcasts list – if you enjoy our show, please consider giving us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts and help us continue our climb up the Top 20! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Wow! Join us in celebrating our recent top of the charts achievements on the Goodpods podcast player!#1 in the Top Indie Management Podcasts chart#2 in the Top Management Podcasts chart#4 in the Top Marketing Podcasts chartsThank you Goodpods listeners! We love your support! Please continue giving us those 5-star ratings and provide your comments!Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023, 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and director partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, and RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, E-Motive, and Swag, Tag & Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno. The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Goodpods: https://bit.ly/TRRSgoodpodsFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICasey

Rick & Kelly are back at Pickleball Partytown after a weekend trip to Scottsdale & Phoenix, AZ, & share a couple video highlights including Poppa Frank Meza's 80th birthday celebration and a new indoor putt putt place, plus an ode to Intermix & some crazy geniuses IN THE NEWS! #pickleball #picklenballs #birthday #happybirthday #fathersday #happyfathersday #arizona #puttputt #intermix #mozart #alberteinstein #napoleonbonaparte #sigmundfreud #crazy #smart The Daily Smash is brought to you by IYLIA WINE! Get yours at 20% OFF using the discount code RICK&KELLY20 at IYLIA.COM

This episode is all about the luxury multi-designer retail store, Intermix and their recent store closings. I begin the episode with a brief history of the Intermix company which begins in 1993, then I discuss the change in owners of the Intermix company including the acquisition by a private equity firm and a discussion of private equity firms and takeover implications. At the end of the episode, I provide my legal analysis and discussion of a recent lawsuit filed against the Intermix company. Enjoy and thank you for listening! Episode Notes: 1. Bal Harbour Shops, LLC v. Intermix Holdco, Inc. 2. Private Equity Article : Record numbers of UK firms are being swallowed by private equity – should we be worried? (theconversation.com)

About This EpisodeIn this episode, retail executive Ron Thurston walks us through his impressive career and the bold moves he's taken along the way. Learning great leadership firsthand from his grandfather, who was the CEO of his own construction business, Ron strives, as a leader, to find the magic in other people and give them opportunities to grow. He discusses what it really means to be a student of the retail industry and the pivotal role of a store's general manager, all while discussing the perception of retail and debunking myths about the industry and online shopping. Ron also emphasizes the power of our purchasing decisions. The places where we choose to shop, particularly in-person versus online, have real impact, especially on the environment. So tune in to hear Ron's bold story and get the inside scoop of the retail industry. About Ron ThurstonRon loves retail. And he's proud of it. He is a highly accomplished retail executive and has proudly led the field teams for some of America's most beloved brands over the last three decades, including GAP, Apple, West Elm, Tory Burch, Bonobos Saint Laurent, and INTERMIX. From part-time sales associate to Vice President of Stores, Ron has put in the hard work that career in retail requires and wrote his first best-selling book, Retail Pride, in 2020 to share what he learned along the way. For the last three years, Ron was named one of the Top 100 Retail Influencers by Rethink Retail and was also recently recognized as one of the 2022 Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers by RITH. He served on the Board of Directors of Goodwill NY/NJ and currently sits on the Advisory Boards of several emerging retail technology brands, including Reflex and IMMERSS.  Additional ResourcesWebsite: https://www.retailpride.com/Check Out His Book, Retail PrideLinkedIn: @RonThurstonInstagram: @RetailPride

Welcome to Intermix with Integris!  In this episode, our host Scott Pruim sits down with Ari Koehnen Sweeney, Director of Creative Arts Partnerships at Hennepin Theatre Trust. Annually, the Trust serves more than 8,000 high school students statewide and brings nearly 600,000 people to the Hennepin Theatre District to experience art on the street and stage. Ari gives insight into the theatre, her history there, and what their goals are going forward as an organization. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ari-koehnen-sweeney-5008413a/ https://hennepintheatretrust.org/  

Brittney and Mia Rothweiler join host Kendall Becker to discuss their brand The Range (which you can shop at your favorite retailers like Revolve, Intermix & Net-a-Porter). Before launching their own label, the sisters worked within the fashion industry and called upon their insider knowledge to curate a brand that's quite frankly the perfect blend of timeless and on trend. In this episode, we discuss what it's like working with family, the vulnerability of entrepreneurship, staying true to your brand ethos and personal values, and what it's like living a bicoastal lifestyle between New York City and Joshua Tree in California. Shop the brand here and follow along on Instagram here! About The Curated Podcast: Join Kendall Becker, New York City-based fashion editor & trend forecaster, as she connects with global creatives across luxury fashion, hospitality, and wellness to uncover the purpose, passion, and inspiration behind a guest's life path and showcase that unconventionality can be the perfect curation, too. Subscribe to The Curated wherever you get your podcasts as well as The Curated Edit on Substack for weekly inspiration from fashion finds to bucket list additions straight to your inbox. Plus, head to YouTube for travel videos, and stay up-to-date in-between episodes by following along on Instagram and TikTok.  The Curated Edit Newsletter on⁠ Substack⁠ The Curated World on YouTube: ⁠@kendall.becker⁠ The Curated Podcast's IG: ⁠@thecuratedbykendall ⁠ Kendall's IG: ⁠@kendall_becker ⁠ TikTok: ⁠@kendall.becker

Emily Merrell is a dynamite networker! She is essentially a "people collector" and as she puts it, "she forces people to meet one another." It's her greatest passion to bring people in connection with one another and make the world a smaller and more approachable place. She wears a lot of hats and has many roles. In this episode, she talks about how she brings all of her passions together and the greatest lessons she's learned on her entrepreneurship journey. In this episode, we discuss: ✨ Emily's work and what she does. ✨ The biggest lessons for taking the leap into entrepreneurship. ✨ The importance of letting go of perfectionism. ✨ Lead with what you're selling, not who you are. ✨ Build your network when you aren't looking for anything and then tap it when you are. ✨ You never know what's going to come from putting content out. ✨ The things that have helped her stay consistent. ✨ Starting a business isn't for the faint of heart. ✨ The stages of entrepreneurship from the day that you quit your job. Emily Merrell is the Founder and Business Coach at Six Degrees Society, Co-founder of Ready Set Coach and Podcast host of The Sixth Degree. She's also lovingly called “20 Questions” by those that know her. Emily launched her career in the Fashion world working in Special events and marketing for high luxury brands Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch and Intermix after a 9 month stint in Argentina post graduation. Since her leap into entrepreneurship in 2016, Emily's expertise in community building, networking and business coaching has been applauded and featured by Refinery29, Girlboss, Forbes and Huffington Post. She's a recent Denver transplant from SF and NYC. In her spare time you can find her playing with her son Jackson, hiking with her husband Greg, making new connections or planning her next taco night. Connect with Emily at www.sixdegreessociety.com/events or on Instagram @emilyamerrell @six_degrees_society @readysetcoachprogram Connect with Jess at www.loveyourwoo.com or on Instagram @loveyourwoo

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, Sezzle, and Silk, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: Intermix Brings Brands To The Outlet For the full episode head here: https://omnitalk.blog/2022/11/23/fast-five-the-costco-sams-hot-dog-war-best-buys-virtual-store-amazons-early-cyber-monday-2/

Does the thought of your High School reunion make you want to "respectfully decline"? If you're an extra extrovert, then you're counting the seconds until you and your friends can catch up on all the latest class gossip. If you're an introvert, do you dread seeing your who was actually your best friend when you were seven - but then middle school and boys happened so you fell out of touch? Regardless of how you feel about high school reunions, Holly has one piece of life advice for you: Just Goooooooooooo. Because whatever is holding you back from attending, or getting you so excited that you attend every 5 years, one thing is certain: No matter what, when you know you look good, you cannot have a bad time.  It's just simply universal fashion law. You cannot have a terrible time. If you show up looking fabulous, it's impossible.  In this episode, your favorite personal stylist (and extra extroverted reunion-advocate), Holly Katz is here to make sure you attend your reunion, and she promises to give you all the style tips you need to ensure you are dressed appropriately, dressed better than everyone else (without being over-dressed) and feeling comfortable and confident. #duh This. Is. Going. To. Be. Epic. Did we mention Holly's reunion is in 2 weeks?    Note: Be sure to click over to Holly's Pinterest board for all this style inspiration!   First Up: Dress Code   When it comes to events like these, the dress code on the invite is usually some ridiculously dumb version of “casual.” They try to use words like “upscale casual” or “cocktail casual” or “dressy casual”. So, if you're confused more than ever, you're not alone.   Well for one thing, whatever the dress code, it means you must get “dressed.” This in fact means you DO NOT show up looking like you do every single day. Don't make us repeat that. What you wear every day (t-shirts, shorts, golf shirts, flip flops, jeans, etc.) is NOT what you wear to an event like this (or any event. Duh.)    According to Holly, and you know she does not mince words, the dress code should actually read: “Put in some effing effort.” That is the new dress code. She has taken upon herself to rewrite all the etiquette books to say just that: Put in Some Effing Effort. New dress code alert!   Option 1: Dresses Just because you're wearing a nice dress doesn't mean you're sooo dressed up. You are just dressed. You may not even need to run out and buy something new! Holly always loves the dress option because you can dress up a casual dress with just a little zhoosh. Just add extra jewelry, a great handbag or fabulous shoes. Holly loves a moto jacket or blazer. Snazz it up!   You can also style a really nice dress down to make is more casual. Just throw a moto jacket or leather blazer over it. This can be worn anywhere!    Dress Suggestions: The cowboy, western look is really hot right now. A maxi dress with short booties or modern cowboy boots are about as on-trend as you can get right now. This outfit works for every body type and every age. You cannot go wrong. Some brands to shop for include Ulla Johnson, BA&SH, Intermix, Farm Rio, Derek Lam, Kobi Halperin, Hemant and Nandita and more. Many can be found at Saks and other department stores or online. All of these can be found on Holly's Pinterest board.    If you aren't feeling the cowboy or western-inspired look, opt for a bold color or oversized floral. If you've listened to our Fall 2022 Trend Report episode, you'll know that color right now is bigger than ever. Yes, neon colors and bright colors are what is in. HOWEVER, you do not need to blind people. Pick one of the new color or floral trends and use it as an accessory. A yellow blazer, a hot pink handbag, or shoes. Do not over-do the bright colors. New York and Company has an incredible pink and red color block blazer, and Holly's favorite = sequin pants! Check those out on the Pinterest board.    Option 2: The Jumpsuit  We have talked about this look on many episodes, and it is perfect for this type of event. Jumpsuits are dressy, but fun. They can have ruffles and color and they look great on all body types. Holly's personal favorite designer is Badgley Mischka.   Option 3: The Bodysuit Another option is a body suit. If you wanted to go with the funky pant route, like sequins, these are great to wear as a top alone, or under a blazer.   Option 4: No Jeans Remember, you are dressing up. Not like you do every day. So, while Holly is adamant about not wearing jeans, you can wear a bodysuit or cute top and jacket with a wax-coated or colored jean that does not look like denim. She is giving you a pass on that one!    Option 5: Sweaters If you live in a cold or cooler climate, please plan accordingly. Showing up in a skimpy, sleeveless dress usually won't work if you live in the Yukon Territory. Dress appropriately for the weather and season! The latest trend is sweaters with cut-outs that can give a little shoulder that are sexy and fun. No fisherman's sweaters. No sweatshirts. Fun, flirty sweaters are the name of the game.    In that regard, consider outwear if you are in a cold climate. NO ski jackets allowed when you are dressing up. Try a long dress coat over slacks and top. Nothing is chicer than a long coat over pants.   Option 6: Lace or Metallics As was noted in the Trend Report episode, lace is really in right now, along with metallics. If you want to do something with a hint of either, your options to accessories are endless.    So, what is Holly wearing to her 30th high school reunion? Stay tuned because there will be photos on social. And most likely, will include sequin pants.   Send us your reunion outfit questions – and even better – send us a photo of your outfit!! DM us on social or email Holly at Holly@fashioncrimespodcast.com.   FASHION CRIMES PODCAST “The Best Fashion Friend You Never Knew You Needed!” Hosted by your favorite personal stylist Holly Katz.

Released in late 2020, Ron Thurston wrote the Amazon #1 best-selling book RETAIL PRIDE as the indispensable guide for every retail employee, manager, and multi-store leader looking to accelerate their potential and grow their career. It's filled with straightforward, practical tips for developing your talents, connecting with customers, and building your leadership skills. ​ Based on more than three decades of Ron's leadership experience, you'll discover a sense of belonging in the words of someone who has been your champion for the industry and shares your journey. ​​Ron is an advocate for everything retail, and while on his journey across America, has now developed a passion for nature and taking care of our planet. Listen in to this engaging conversation with Ron and April to learn more about Ron's travels and what he believes we should all be focused on in the next decade of retail. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/april477/support

Intermix, one of fashion darling high street brands, is led by CEO Jyothi Rao. A leader driven to elevate racial equality, space for female leadership, and a sustainability power agenda long overdue in the world of fast fashion. Calvin Klein, GAP, and Guilt have all felt the touch of change she inspires. A path invested in the long game and one focused behind ethical talent growth to deliver a mission to serve both investors and customers where it matters most. Join us as we explore the road of purpose, parenthood, and profits to ignite change on the sleeves of everyone Jyothi and her brands both touch and inspire to be what matters on and off one's catwalk in life. 

In this podcast we cover - 1. Mental models for career pivots 2. The art of thinking like a contrarian 3. Navigating the investment spectrum and breaking into private equity. Sahil Bloom in his own words - "Every week, I create content that reaches over 1 million people around the world across Twitter (@SahilBloom), a newsletter (The Curiosity Chronicle), a podcast (Where It Happens), and more. I am Managing Partner of SRB Ventures, an investment firm committed to investing in and accelerating the most compelling startups in the world. Fund I is a $10 million stage and sector-agnostic vehicle writing $100-250K checks into high-growth technology companies globally. Prior to launching the firm in January 2022, I was an early stage investor in 40+ startups across the technology landscape, including multiple unicorns. I am also an Advisor at Altamont Capital Partners, a generalist investment fund with over $3.5 billion in capital under management, focused on control investments in middle market companies. I previously served as a Vice President at Altamont on the investment team and am an active board member at several Altamont portfolio companies, including Fox Racing, Intermix, and Brixton. I graduated from Stanford University with an M.A. in Public Policy (2014) and a B.A. in Economics & Sociology (2013). While at Stanford, I was a four-year member on the Stanford Baseball Team (2009-2013), twice helping to guide the team to NCAA Super Regional appearances (top-16 finishes). Additionally, I earned two PAC-12 All-Academic Team awards, and twice received the Bruce R. Cameron Memorial Award, given annually to a student-athlete exhibiting excellence in athletics, academics, and leadership. Academically, I was advised in my pursuits by former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice."

Juliana Salazar is a stylist and brand consultant from Miami. Born to Colombian parents, she studied at George Washington University majoring in Business & French before deciding to pursue the fashion industry. After finding her footing with brief stints at YSL and Intermix, she officially began her fashion career at iconic retailer Hirshleifers. Today we discuss her non-traditional path to becoming a stylist, the biggest misconceptions about the job and how to maintain a good reputation, in an industry where relationships are everything. Enjoy.  IG: @julianasalazar  

Juliana Salazar is a stylist and brand consultant from Miami. Born to Columbian parents, she studied at George Washington University majoring in Business & French before deciding to pursue the fashion industry. After finding her footing with brief stints at YSL and Intermix, she officially began her fashion career at iconic retailer Hirshleifers. Today we discuss her non-traditional path to becoming a stylist, the biggest misconceptions about the job and how to maintain a good reputation, in an industry where relationships are everything. Enjoy.  IG: @julianasalazar  

In Episode 215, I converse with Rebecca Solodovnik, Psychotherapist & Certified Management Specialist. She is the owner of mindfree me, which helps clients with anxiety, anger, body image, coping with health issues, depression, eating disorders, grief, self esteem, stress, trauma, PTSD, and workplace trauma. She previously held senior Human Resources positions at Lord & Taylor, INTERMIX, Michael Kors, Valentino, Versace and Chardan. We speak about professional transitions, the universe, benefits of chess for employees, the inner child, artificial barriers, Queen's Gambit,  mindfulness, stigmas against psychotherapy and more. 

Welcome back to Season 2, Episode 160 of the Asian Hustle Network Podcast! We are very excited to have Vivian Wang on this week's show. We interview Asian entrepreneurs around the world to amplify their voices and empower Asians to pursue their dreams and goals. We believe that each person has a message and a unique story from their entrepreneurial journey that they can share with all of us. Check us out on Anchor, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, TuneIn, Spotify, and more. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a positive 5-star review. This is our opportunity to use the voices of the Asian community and share these incredible stories with the world. We release a new episode every Wednesday and Saturday, so stay tuned! Vivian is the Founder & CEO of LANDED (gotlanded.com). She and the LANDED team are building the fastest way for the 90M hourly workers in the US to land jobs at essential restaurants and hospitality like Panera, Cava, Chick-fil-A & more. After graduating from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs, Vivian worked in roles ranging from advising European central banks on financial markets strategy at BlackRock and launching the Asia & EMEA markets at real estate tech company, Matterport (NASDAQ: MTTR), to leading special projects for the C-suite at Gap, Inc., owner of Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta, and Intermix. To stay connected within the AHN community, please join our AHN directory: bit.ly/AHNDirectory --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/asianhustlenetwork/support

On today's episode AJ talks to fashion designer and Project Runway finalist Kimberly Goldson. The Kimberly Goldson fashion brand focuses on culture, creativity, and everyday women. Kimberly has done collabs with Lebron James, Nike, Gucci, and currently you can find her work at Saks Fifth Ave, Nordstrom, INTERMIX, and Shopbop. AJ and Kimberly get into what the lifestyle of working for yourself really looks like, how to pay yourself, and the moments when Kimberly's personal finance journey transformed her humble struggle into a prosperous present and luxurious future. As Kimberly says "When you get your finances in order - hallelujah - but the journey is deeper than the finances." Enjoy! The Heal Your Relationship With Money Course begins July 12th -Apply Here & Sign Up by June 29th to get a MONTH of coaching FOR FREE Visit us at www.beyondthegreencoaching.com Watch the full video version of this episode on our YouTube channel Co-produced by AJ Schneider & Eric J. Weisberg Hosted by AJ Schneider @beyondthegreencoaching Edited by Eric J. Weisberg - Contact Me: ericjweisberg@gmail.com Music by Eric J. Weisberg @ericselectricwindow Follow our Beyond The Green Financial Freedom Coaches @rachelschmeling @leah_garvey Have a subject you want to hear discussed on the podcast? Email us at hello@beyondthegreencoaching.com Resources: Follow Kimberly's work @kimberlygoldson Follow Kimberly @kgfromkg KimberlyGoldson.com

Our special guest this week is Ron Thurston, fellow Rethink Retail top influencer, best-selling author of Retail Pride: The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career, and deeply experienced retail executive, having done stings at Intermix, YSL, Bonobos, Tory Burch, Apple and more.Ron joins us from his Airsteam just a couple of months into his "Retail In America" tour, which will literally take him from sea to shining sea. He's on a journey to discover everyday retail heroes and we find him just outside of Memphis eager to talk about all that he is learning. It's a wide-ranging discussion of what it's really like on the ground, away from the often narrow views from the fashion hubs of New York and LA. But just to keep it a wee bit glam, we also learn about Ron's recent chat with none other than Sarah Jessica Parker.But first we we dive into the big retail news of the week, which starts of with how recent earnings highlight the continuing bifurcation of retail that is being exacerbated by inflation and rebalancing to pre-COVID spending patterns. We also discuss, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon's revised weather forecast, get additional proof that everything Eddie Lampert touches dies. We then conclude with Missguided's "named to fail" strategy and former Neiman Marcus CEO Karen Katz's move to become the new CEO of Intermix.  About RonRon Thurston is a highly accomplished retail leadership Executive, Board Advisor, and Amazon Bestselling Author with extensive experience leading retail operations for America's most prominent brands. He is adept at turning around underperforming businesses, developing and implementing innovative growth strategies, architecting improved training programs, building high-performing and dedicated teams, launching new brands, expanding brands into new markets, and ensuring customer growth and satisfaction. In 2021 and 2022, Ron was named one of the top 100 Retail Influencers globally, is a board member of GOODWILL NY/NJ, and currently sits on the advisory boards of several emerging retail technology brands, including Reflex Careers, Job Pixel, and IMMERSS. In 2022 Ron is launching his audio and video platforms for a year-long tour called “Retail In America,” live from an Airstream trailer to discover the real retail heroes all across the country. About UsSteve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,      The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext!  You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

After graduating from college, Jyothi Rao joined Gap Inc., where she spent 16 years working for their portfolio of brands, climbing the corporate ladder, and serving the company in a number of different roles. From there, she moved on to become the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Gilt.com—where she was instrumental in growing the business into a leading digital fashion site. Now, CEO of INTERMIX, Jyothi has successfully led the luxury women's brand transformation into the leading omnichannel fashion boutique that it's known as today. Jyothi is joining WorkParty today to chat about all things career growth. She's sharing the details of her journey moving her way up the corporate ranks, what it means to make intentional career moves, why your network is truly your net worth, and the importance of establishing a positive work culture that fosters growth. Plus, she's also sharing the strategies that set Intermix apart from the rest—and advice for small businesses to do the same.   Sponsors: • INTERMIX | Looking to refresh your summer wardrobe? Text the word PODCAST to 96748 and receive 15% off your next purchase at INTERMIX!   Resources: • To join the WorkParty click HERE • To connect with Jyothi Rao click HERE • To connect with Jaclyn Johnson click HERE • To follow along with Create & Cultivate click HERE • To learn more about INTERMIX click HERE • To submit your questions call the WorkParty Hotline: 1-(833)-57-PARTY (577-2789) Produced by Dear Media

In-store retail is a tough place to work. Long hours, a miserly wage, angry customers, and high customer service goals are characteristic of the job. In fact, anyone who has worked in retail knows there is a feeling of shame associated with the role. But why is that? Aren't retail employees the face of the store? Isn't the store's success hinged on their daily interaction with each customer? Join us as we speak to Ron Thurston, a retail expert, on how retail employees can find their pride. Like what you're hearing? Head over to https://thelongergame.com/ to read show notes, watch the episode or contact us. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/thelongergame Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thelongergame Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thelongergame About our guest: Ron Thurston loves retail. And he's proud of it. Ron has led the retail teams for some of America's most prominent brands, inspired thousands of store employees, and traveled relentlessly across the country to sit and listen to what they have to say. From a part-time sales associate to a Vice President of Stores, Ron has put in the hard work that a retail career requires and wrote this book to share what he learned along the way. ​ In 2021, Ron was named one of the world's Top 100 most influential people in retail and is a featured keynote speaker, podcast guest, and in-demand industry expert. ​ Ron most recently led the retail organization for INTERMIX, sits on the board of directors for GOODWILL NY/NJ, and is an advisory board member and mentor for several retail technology brands. Website: https://www.retailpride.com/ Find Retail Pride on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rthurston Find Retail Pride on Instagram: @retailpride Find Retail Pride on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/retailpride Michael Maher, the host, would love to connect with you. Reach out to him at… Email: michael@thinkcartology.com LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/immichaelmaher This podcast is sponsored by Cartology and podcastify.me. Cartology is a customized done-for-you service agency that helps brands accelerate growth and get profitable on the Amazon marketplace. They work directly with brands to create a strategy and then go right out and execute it. Want to find out more? Website: https://thinkcartology.com/ Find Cartology on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/cartology Find Cartology on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thinkcartology Find Cartology on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thinkcartology podcastify.me is a full-service podcast production company that designs podcasts around people who are paid for their advice: coaches. If you're knowledgeable in your space and want a steady stream of people who have the exact kinds of problems you solve and they want to talk about it, a podcast may just be your secret weapon. They handle everything from finding guests, to editing, publishing, and promoting episodes, all with the goal of helping you build your business. Check them out: https://podcastify.me/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thelongergame/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thelongergame/support

Ron Thurston is on a mission to celebrate the culture, people and legacy of the retail industry. Born into a family of retailers, Ron always knew he wanted to be involved in the industry. Now, he is literally traveling America with the purpose of celebrating the real people of retail and the beautiful stories behind their often “accidental careers.” Ron Thurston is a highly accomplished retail leadership Executive, Board Advisor, and Amazon Bestselling Author with extensive experience leading retail operations for America's most prominent brands–including The Gap, West Elm, Tory Burch, Yves Saint Laurent and Intermix.  One of Ron's greatest strengths is turning around underperforming businesses, developing and implementing innovative growth strategies, improving training programs, building high-performing and dedicated teams, launching new brands, expanding brands into new markets, and ensuring customer growth and satisfaction.  In 2021 and 2022, Ron was named one of the top 100 Retail Influencers globally, is a board member of GOODWILL NY/NJ, and currently sits on the advisory boards of several emerging retail technology brands, including Reflex Careers, Job Pixel, and IMMERSS.  As of Spring 2022, Ron is traveling across America in an airstream trailer for a year-long tour called “Retail in America”. He is launching his audio and video platforms for a yearlong exploration of the stories behind retail businesses in America, from family-owned brick-and-mortars to large companies. Ron wants to share their inception stories and provide a platform for them to celebrate their incredible careers. Is your retail career a happy accident? Sitting across from retail workers, Ron hears it all the time: Many people did not intend to pursue a career in retail.  This “happy accident” is exciting, compelling and wonderful. But it is not always understood or honored. As someone who understands what it's like when friends and family questioned his decision to work in a field that requires long hours, nights and holidays, Ron wants to discover hidden opportunities for rich storytelling in retail. Show up with pride. Ron is not here to tell you how to run your retail business - his mission is to teach you and your team how to show up as your best selves, with pride. His mantra is: “I choose to show up with pride today, in what I do.” Ron sees retail as a great equalizer-providing opportunities for people of all gender identities, orientations and backgrounds to connect and inspire others. He is excited by the future of retail businesses, which he believes is rich for expansion and community.  Tell your story. As Ron travels across America, he is asking retail business owners and workers to share their stories. He wants to help share messages of hope, hilarity and creative inspiration from the industry that fuels America!  By reframing attitudes towards retail, Ron helps us create a better work culture. What are we proud of? How do we show up every day to serve others and engage with them on a human level? And how can we spread more kindness by bettering the experience of shopping? By asking these simple questions, Ron is having a major impact on thousands of retail workers across the globe. Quotes “Retail is not just sales. It's storytelling. It's history. It's community, it's people. And it's so much bigger than the average perception of this industry.” “Every part of this business is so exciting and interesting to me. The careers that people have are under-celebrated! It's an industry full of proud, hardworking people!” “1 out of 4 people in this country work in retail. But it's almost invisible in some ways.” “The more kind that we can be to each other about the work we do, the more positive impact that has on why this is an important career choice.” “I want to accomplish the momentum behind…new generations of people joining the retail industry. That this can be an industry where no matter how you present yourself, all are welcome here.” Links mentioned in this episode: Visit Ron Thurston's website for his tour, “Retail Pride” https://www.retailpride.com/  Get Ron's Amazon bestselling book, Retail Pride: The Guide to Celebrating your Accidental Career https://www.amazon.com/Retail-Pride-Celebrating-Accidental-Career/dp/1544515936/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=gOyvd&pf_rd_p=205b21f0-8557-4ea8-a863-e58f77379cf8&pf_rd_r=C8CY7CQEGDC4ZRK05B8Y&pd_rd_r=fdbf7c7d-92a5-48fe-bea9-4d7cbcda688f&pd_rd_wg=ggLtS&ref_=pd_gw_  Follow along with his journey across America on his Instagram, @RetailPride https://www.instagram.com/retailpride/   Subscribe to receive email updates from Ron's “Retail in America” tour  https://www.retailpride.com/contact  For links to Ron's Retail Pride sponsors, visit Ron's Linktree https://linktr.ee/ronthurston

Ron Thurston is a highly accomplished Retail Leadership Executive (having led such brands as SAINT LAURENT, APPLE and Intermix), is a Board Advisor for Goodwill Stores and an Amazon bestselling author with his book, Retail Pride-The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career.   As we invite Ron back to the PWP podcast (having been our FIRST guest in Season ONE), he is someone that has truly embraced what it means to Pivot with Purpose, stepping out of the corporate retail store environment and now heading out on the road live from an Airstream trailer to discover and tell the real stories of retail heroes all across the country.   The moral of this conversation, you can pivot at ANY TIME, ANY AGE and ANY POINT in your career. If you have a passion, follow it and own what you love to do. It is the way to ultimate joy and satisfaction in career and life. In this conversation we discuss: Why everyone should start their career in the service industry How YOU have control as a candidate these days when applying to jobs Ways you can best navigate your own pivot Why you should take a dream, a thought, an idea and bring it to life Find out more about Ron's Airstream Journey and follow along on his adventures at:  https://www.retailpride.com/ Buy his book: Retail Pride- The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career: https://www.amazon.com/Retail-Pride-Celebrating-Accidental-Career/dp/1544515928 Follow Ron and Retail in America on Instagram: @retailpride  If you are in retail and interested in being featured on his podcast or for event and business opportunities, Reach out to Ron: ronthurston@retailpride.com

Our guest this week is Carlos Franqui, the Founder and Creative Director of Floratorium a NYC high-end flower studio that specializes in conceptualized silk flowers installations that are meant to excite, delight, and elevate guest experiences for brick and mortar hospitality and retail destinations. Floratorium opened in 2014 when Carlos saw a need to enliven physical spaces with head-turning displays. Their clients have included names like Versace, Beyonce, Intermix, NYC Garment District, and so much more… We're excited to have Carlos as our guest this week to learn more about the grand installations that he and his team with Floratorium create. Learn more about Carlos and Floratorium with all of our past guests on TheFlowerPodcast.com Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Gaana, and many more! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for access to all of our Zoom chats, tutorials, IG Lives, and video extras. Sponsors of The Flower Podcast Curate Accent Decor Rooted Farmers ASCFG Real Flower Business Garden Roses Direct Florabundance, Inc. Intrigued Experience Conference 

OMG! Did you know that there is a 2-year backlog of weddings after the COVID pandemic? This means that you will be invited to 400% more weddings this year.  WHAT?? Welcome to the “Wedding Boom,” y'all!    Whether it's a black-tie event or a fun backyard family get-together, Holly is here to keep you from panicking by telling you exactly “How to be the best-dressed wedding guest!”    Get the new episode here now: https://apple.co/2XXKHfC   If you need to know what to wear and how to wear it, believe us, you came to the right place.  This week we cover traditional and non-traditional wedding attire, how much you should be spending, and how to create a killer outfit from your existing wardrobe.    Your favorite stylist, Holly Katz, dishes out a bunch of different scenarios of wedding events: time of day, dress codes and outfit ideas.    Let's be honest, it would be great if we could all wear something that we already have in our wardrobe. If you have a ton of to choose from in your own closet, Holly will always recommend that you start there. Always, Always!   Event Number One: Cocktail Attire The 6 p.m. wedding with dinner and dancing, and the dress code says “Cocktail Attire.”  Is that black-tie? No.    So let's start with the dress code. Cocktail dress code means nighttime, dressy dress, something that you would not wear during the day. And this is where it gets a little confusing, we are not gonna lie.    Can you wear sequins? Yes. Can you wear sequins during the day? If you're Holly? Yes. Can you wear said sequins for a cocktail wedding and make it a nighttime look? Absolutely.   It's all in how you style it. There are some very clear examples on Holly's Pinterest board of amazing dresses, and even a couple pictures of Holly as well, of course, for your viewing pleasure.  Can you wear a long dress? Yes.    Can you wear an evening dress? Yes.    Can you wear a daytime dress or a casual sundress? No.    You need to aim to look dressier than you would look during the day. This is very important for people who don't have a dressy lifestyle, or who don't have a wide variety of dresses in their wardrobe.   Final note on Cocktail Attire: The key is to look special. Get something that makes the evening dressier than you would normally dress. It could be fabulous shoes and evening bag, or just your jewelry that can be bigger and flashier and fancier than normal.   Insider Stylist Tip: Shop for fit, not for price. We know that price needs to be consideration, however, you need to be shopping for fit first.    Holly calls this little formula “Shopping forward vs. Shopping backward.” This is actually in her corporate styling presentation.    When you shop backward, the fashion crime is when you strictly shop for color or price. This is the ultimate way to do yourself a huge fashion disservice.    Translation: don't buy shit because it's on sale, thinking you'll find somewhere to wear it one day. That's how you end up with clothes in your closet with tags on them.  Don't shop without a plan or shop aimlessly spending money on things that are not right for you.    That is shopping backward. You don't need this fashion crime!    When you shop with a purpose, when you know your body type and you buy something because it fits really well: that is shopping forward.   Event Number Two: the 4:00 PM Outdoor Wedding This is one of the hardest time slots to decide what to wear. When in doubt, be on the more dressy side.   How long does the four o'clock wedding go? Until sundown? That would be beautiful!    Until 10 PM? Then is it a sit-down dinner? It may not technically be dinner, but may be heavy hors d'oeuvres?    So, you have cocktails, you may or may not have seating, and you may be standing on your feet for a long time. Consider your shoe choice and the temperature after the sun goes down.    Any-who, there will be people who are just as dressed up as you, and some that are much more casual. Who is right here? Holly thinks it can honestly be interpreted either way. But again, she recommends being dressier than not.    Dress brands Holly mentions in this episode and recommends:   Intermix   Milly   alice and olivia   Chiara Boni   La Ligne   Adrianna Papell   badgley mischka   Revolve.com   asos.com Hot Tip: If you are hard to fit, and ordering online, order one size up!! If you are unsure of the fit, if you don't know the designer, or if you don't know the brand - save your sanity and order one size larger.    Event Number Three: the Afternoon Wedding  When the dress code says something super douchy like “smart casual” or “uptown chic” and you have zero clue that that is, join the clueless club. People don't know what the fuck that is. Right?    Translation: look nice. Don't read that much into it.   However, do not choose comfort over style! You can sometimes, but in this instance, do not, especially for a wedding. A wedding is special.    It never hurts to be the best-looking person in the room. And if we have to suffer with foot pain, we have to suffer. It's the circle of life. Okay? It's not that serious.    Just know that when you're walking in this type of situation, you need to error on the side of looking dressier than not.    Event Number Four: the Formal Wedding This is the easy one. Formal means black-tie for men and evening gowns for women. If you do not have these items in your wardrobe, try Rent the Runway or shop sale items at department stores.    You can splurge here, but make sure it is a dress that fits you perfectly and is one that you will wear again and again.    A well-fitting, age-appropriate formal gown never goes out of style - and you will always need at least one in your adult life.   Want to know “How to be the best dressed wedding guest?” Hit Holly up!  She has solved all of your wedding guest dress problems on her Pinterest board and social media!   Get the episode here: https://apple.co/2XXKHfC   FASHION CRIMES PODCAST “The Best Fashion Friend You Never Knew You Needed”  Hosted by your favorite personal stylist Holly Katz!   www.fashoncrimespodcast.com

S1E5 – The Retail Avengers & The Sea of AcademiaWelcome to Season 1, Episode 5, the fifth ever episode of The Retail Razor Show!I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I'm your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we're your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, we'll help you cut through the clutter!For episode 5 we're tackling an issue that doesn't get as much attention as it should – the role of academics and universities in the retail industry!We have two special guests joining us. Gautham Vadakkepatt, director of the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason University's School for Business. Plus fan favorite, Ron Thurston, author of the book, Retail Pride – The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career.Listen to our Clubhouse session with Gautham and Ron where we discuss how academia can change the perception of retail for students - our up-and-coming next generation of retailers! We also consider what contributions university centers can make to retail tech, particularly in the startup community as well as how research plays a role in furthering the spread of knowledge in the retail ecosystem.You can learn more about the Center for Retail Transformation on their website. For more information about Ron's book and his upcoming Retail in America tour, visit his website.And big news! Our podcast has made it to the Feedspot Top 50 Retail podcasts list! We recently hit #20, so please do give us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts if you like the show to help us grow! With your help, we'll be a Top 10 podcast soon enough! Check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - ****https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E5 The Retail Avengers & The Sea of Academia[00:00:20] Introduction[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. No matter what time of day you're listening. Welcome. Welcome to the retail razor show. I'm your host Ricardo Belmar a RETHINK Retail top 100 retail influencer and lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft.[00:00:35] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden CEO of Luxe lock and been obsessed with the customer relationship between a brand and a consumer and slaying, Frankenstacks [00:00:44] Ricardo Belmar: I love hearing how many Frankenstacks you've slain every time, Casey, how many since the last episode?[00:00:49] Casey Golden: Well, we're still working on three. It does take a minute.[00:00:52] Ricardo Belmar: Well, yeah, I guess it does take a minute. That's not bad. Considering we had a holiday break in there too. Right? So not too bad, not too bad. I wonder how many listeners would have guessed. I keep waiting to see if there are any tweets they're going to start flying out to us with everybody guessing before the next episode, how many Franken stacks get slain?[00:01:11] So do I, or do I, anybody listening or watching on YouTube will look out for the tweet storm of guesses and we'll give you a shout out if anybody comes close to the right number.[00:01:19] Casey Golden: So last week, Ricardo, we had a special guest dedicated to celebrating retail ROI, probably one of the most moving podcast episodes in 2021. [00:01:29] Ricardo Belmar: . Without a doubt, anyone that missed that one definitely go back, give it a listen. I'm sure you'll be as moved and inspired as we were. [00:01:35] Casey Golden: Well at this time, we've got another hot topic.[00:01:38] Don't we? And not one, but two special guests joined us on clubhouse to talk about our super cool, but often underrated subject, how academics support retail. [00:01:48] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. This session was a long time in the making, for our listeners out there, who aren't aware I'm on the advisory council to George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, along with a couple of our retail Avengers team members, Jeff Roster, and Shish Shridhar.[00:02:03] And we invited the center's director, Gautham Vadakkepatt to join the show. So we could deep dive into how academics and university programs help the retail industry and not just retailers, but the whole ecosystem.. [00:02:15] Casey Golden: And back with us again. Fan favorite, Ron Thurston, author of retail pride. The guide to celebrating your accidental career also joined us because this iOS is a topic near and dear to our hearts too.[00:02:29] Ricardo Belmar: So we zeroed in on three main topics for the discussion, preparing the next generation of retailers, also known as students supporting an environment for startups now, also near and dear to our hearts and for creating, a neutral ground for industry research. [00:02:42] Casey Golden: There's so much ground to cover in these areas.[00:02:45] And I can't wait to share what Gautham and Ron had to say, let's get to it. [00:02:49] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely. So without further delay, let's listen to the retail Avengers and the sea of academia.The Retail Avengers and the Sea of Academia on Clubhouse[00:03:02] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome everybody to the Retail Razor room. We're talking today about what we call the sea of academia, and we're going to be taking a deep dive into the role that universities and academics play in the future of retail.[00:03:20] We're going to focus on three areas and we'll get to that in a moment, but we have a couple of guest speakers with us this week, who I want to first let them introduce themselves. And then we'll do quick intros for the usual team and jump right in. Gautham why don't you introduce yourself first. [00:03:34] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Thank you Ricardo for having me.[00:03:36] My name is Gautham Vadakkepatt. I'm the associate professor in the school of business at George Mason University and the director for the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason. [00:03:46] Ricardo Belmar: Great, thank you. And then we also have a returning special guest to our room here, Ron Thurston. Ron?[00:03:51] Ron Thurston: Sure. Thanks Ricardo.. Really happy to be here and always love any of these conversations. My name is Ron Thurston. I'm the author of retail pride and a long time retail leader. And most recently as the vice president of stores of Intermix and head of stores for several brands prior.[00:04:08] And I spend much of my time now consulting and speaking, and really celebrating the millions of people who do the hard work and stories every day. And in education may play a part in that, which is why I was so interested in joining this conversation. [00:04:23] So thanks, Ricardo. [00:04:25] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thanks, Ron. And moving on to our regular Retail Avengers team, I'll start with what's on my screen at least is our ghost speaker. Jeff, because I can't see you on my screen for some reason. [00:04:37] Jeff Roster: Hi, jeff roster. Co-host of This Week In Innovation and serve on several advisory boards. Most, most proudly the center for retail transformation with George Mason University. And I'm so happy to have my boss there, here tonight.[00:04:49] Looking forward to hearing what he has got to say. [00:04:51] Ricardo Belmar: Excellent and Casey. [00:04:53] Casey Golden: Hi, I'm Casey Golden. I'm the founder of Luxlock retail experience platform, a former fashion exec and supply chain management tech.[00:05:03] Ricardo Belmar: Maybe Shish is having a little bit of an issue. We'll come back to him in a minute. And I'm Ricardo Belmar, the host of the room. I created the Retail Razor Club here on Clubhouse. I'm a lead partner marketing advisor for retail at Microsoft, and also proud to be on the advisory council at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation as is Jeff, and also equally happy to have Gautham here to talk to us about what I think is a tremendously interesting topic that probably doesn't get as much attention as it should.[00:05:33] I think in this industry particularly around what I'm going to introduce as our first topic for discussion here and that's how we introduce fresh talent and skills into the retail workforce and what role universities have in that. So it's not a new concept, of course, that universities have had retail programs and curriculums in the past, there are number of universities that do.Preparing the next-gen of retailers - students![00:05:55] Ricardo Belmar: I claim that there's a bit of a misperception in what those programs are meant to do and that many people believe that they're really there just to produce more merchandisers and more buyers who are ultimately going to get hired perhaps by a department store brand and take on one of those roles, which at the end of the day, I think is really not what the industry is looking for from an academic environment.[00:06:17] And I would argue that that's more a perception than it is a reality, but I'm going to, I'm going to stop there and ask Gautham to tell us about what you really think the reality of this situation is and why there is this perception.[00:06:30] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Well, thank you, Ricardo, for giving me the chance to kick things off. Let me just quickly start by saying that, you know, the role of the university is to get students excited about a career in retail, B to kind of highlight the career opportunities that they have and C is to probably provide them with the skill sets that is most needed to manage the retail landscape as it is right now.[00:06:58] To that extent, The job of academia is to address all three aspects, not just the last aspect of trying to create talent in a specific area and to bring them and give them skillsets. And generally, my perception to answer your question, Ricardo, is that where we have perhaps fumbled the ball slightly is that many of the students who work in retail really don't and in my class about 40% of them work in retail, don't understand what's the upward trajectory once they start working in retail, what the career paths that they have and what skills they have, and they don't have mentors to be blunt and honest, we are a minority-majority school, and I'm very proud of that fact. Many of them are first-generation students. And so they don't have people to guide them through that.[00:07:51] Like, Hey, look, retail is a good paying job. What they see is just a store associate. Many of them start off a store associates, but they don't see that thing forward. And they don't know what skills that they need to kind of get to that next level. So I'll talk about the skills needed in a later time, but I'll pause here too.[00:08:10] I'm sure Ron has, and others have things to add to this conversation.[00:08:14] Ron Thurston: I would love to, to jump in, thank you, Gautham.And I had the pleasure of being a panelist on on a session that Gautham led with students. And I could not agree more with, with his statement because, when you think about the industry and whether it's you're coming to an education platform like George Mason or you are[00:08:35] I'm coming into this from a, from a different angle or with no education at all. The opportunity that all of us have then in leadership roles is to provide that insight, to speak as loudly as possible to mentor, to find those chances, to, to share the unlimited opportunities there are available within the retail industry.[00:08:59] And by unlimited, it's from all the different brands that you could potentially work for, the opportunities both in store from a career trajectory and to multi-store heads of stores into other corporate roles, marketing, finance, social, design, buying, the, the jobs are unlimited, but often the best candidates that come are ones that come from the store that really understand the customer and understand that the product category demand have really have a deep understanding of what's needed in the industry and have such expertise when you come from the field. And I just think we don't speak about that enough or give the language to retail teams to be able to say, this is, you know, I'm a store manager of a, of a million dollar business, and here are all the things that I do even on a small team today to run this million multimillion dollar business and the list of competencies and how that moves you forward and, and how the industry works.[00:10:07] It's part of why we're in this situation today from a hiring perspective is because the industry doesn't see itself as one where careers are plentiful. And I know I personally love to change that in every way that we can.[00:10:21] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks, Ron. Thanks Gautham. I think these are some good points about this. So let me ask then the question, how do we introduce the right, you know, whether it's particular courses or particular skill sets and training for that at a university level, and what's the right approach for that? Gautham you hinted at having a few thoughts around this as well.[00:10:42] So maybe I'll turn this back to you for a moment and let you give us your thoughts on how you think that should be approached. [00:10:49] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Yeah. I'll just give you a case study of what I experienced at my university. Right? So I, I teach a introductory class to retail management. We have 22 students out of which about 40% of them actually work in retail.[00:11:01] When I started the course, none of them wanted to have a carer on retail. I'm not joking, not a single one of them wanted to work in retail. And what we did and I kind of went in anticipating this problem and what I did was to get various speakers. Ron was one of them. Jeff was another, we had several , speakers come and talk about their careers in retail, showcasing what they did, how you made progress up retail, what opportunities and skills that they have.[00:11:32] And as of last week, when I asked the same students, Hey, how many of you are going to work? You still think you don't want to work in retail. All six of them who said that, Hey, I did not want to work in retail said, I would like to pursue careers in retail. I just don't know how to get there. So at least we addressed the first problem that, okay, now we know that there is interest.[00:11:54] It's just about providing them with information and it's thanks to people, leaders in the space who come and present their viewpoint to classrooms and give them real world experiences of what retailers that addresses the talent, the first step of the talent going into retail. And then of course, providing them with the skills to succeed in retail today that that's partly on us academics to make sure that they have the skills.[00:12:23] Right. And so, while I take the first class on retail foundations, the second class I teach is emerging technologies in retail. So that once we get them interested in retail, then I tried to provide them the skills that they need to succeed in retail today, which is not just the people skills very critical, but it's also the technology aspect that they need to be able to do the science and the art behind these two things.[00:12:48] So that's the way, that's the approach that the center has taken to educate students at Mason on retailing. Give them an opportunity to succeed in the retail landscape today.A student's first exposure to retail[00:13:00] Ricardo Belmar: Let me ask you a question on that note. Two things I want to get at. Because I'm wanting to dig a little deeper into what you were saying about the component of teaching, more about emerging technologies as what I would consider a valuable enticement to someone in that program to understand more about the art of the possible and what maybe the future looks like versus what has gone in the past that they may need to learn.[00:13:22] But one of the comments I'm seeing in the back channel is that when we think about where does that first exposure coming from to retail for a lot of students, you know, by the time they get to you, for example, they may have had a summer job working as a frontline staff in a store, and that has formed their opinion coming in as to what working in retail is like.[00:13:44] So is part of the solution here, in one sense, What are the right programs and how do you describe it? What do you teach in that program at the university level, but then going back a few steps. And I think Ron, maybe you might have a few thoughts here. It's so critical then what that experience for that... let's assume it's a high school student, for example, who takes that first summer job at a retail store, that experience is going to define their perception of retail as an industry and as a business. So is that as important as what they might see looking forward into college programs that talk about retail, and how do you weigh the difference here? [00:14:21] Ron Thurston: Yeah. Ricardo, I'd love to jump in because you're, you're exactly right. And I speak about this often to say again, when you are placed in a, any kind of leadership role, assistant manager, store manager, multi-store leader, all, you know, all of us that have had those roles. It becomes your responsibility to pay that forward to wherever possible.[00:14:45] And I love this idea of you creating an environment where young people are learning what it means to function in the workforce and that they go home until their parents, you know, what their experience was at work, and you have the opportunity to create something that's really magical through a great onboarding, you know, an interview journey and onboarding an immersion in the brand.[00:15:10] You're learning how to sell. You're learning how a business operates back of house, front of house, visual merchandising in a cash management. You're learning all these skills and a well led store provides that opportunity for someone to say, wow, I really love doing this, which may turn into a a change of heart in a career trajectory, or may say, you know, I'd really like to learn more about this part of the industry and start to study, but I, you know, the, the data shows a variety of things, but on average, one in three, one in four first jobs in this country are in retail. And so we have the opportunity. We have the big base of people to do this well. And the kind of desperation that I think some brands find themselves in today means those people may not be getting a great first experience.[00:16:01] And that's, that's something we could certainly improve.[00:16:03] Ricardo Belmar: Jeff. I want to give you a chance here. Do you have some thoughts on this point? [00:16:07] Jeff Roster: Yeah. My first thought is I wish I could've worked for, for Ron![00:16:14] I started off with my dad. [00:16:16] Probably the toughest spot I've ever had in my entire life. And then was it another retailer and Ron, what's interesting how you said that, just how you phrased it. I mean, it was, you know, I just, the onboarding, the onboarding journey. I mean, what a, what a fantastic way to say that when I started at Mervyn's, I mean, it wasn't a journey. It was a very mechanical process and everything about that was a mechanical process. And I think the thing that was the roughest about that particular organization is the leaders, the senior leaders, didn't at least on the selection side didn't encourage their people to be successful away from under their direction .[00:16:54] So in other words, I don't wanna, I don't wanna I don't want my junior manager to be successful because then I'm gonna have to replace that person. And that is a cancer that hopefully we get away from. Both my kids work in tech, shockingly, they work in tech and their management. I won't say the organizations, although, you know, the organization be proud of it.[00:17:14] Their organization's leadership wants these kids to be successful. And they're rewarding their managers for making them successful, even if, even if it means moving out of their teams. And that is such a difference in, unfortunately I think how a chunk of folks in retail still operate. And that's, that's something that we, as a whole have to say, we, you can't do that.[00:17:33] You gotta, you gotta promote, you gotta encourage, you got to let these people grow and you know, it, it's just a different mindset. So, Ron, I just want to celebrate you. I want you to be amazingly successful and I want you to carry that message far and wide, because that we have to get to that point.[00:17:50] Gautham Vadakkepatt: If I could just echo what Jeff said. If, if there are more Ron's people who could actually create that amazing first experience, For people who get into college, that would be awesome because just frankly, in the past 10 years I've been teaching very few times have students actually come in saying that, Hey look, I've had a great experience.[00:18:16] And so most of the effort I put in, in that first course is always towards trying to reframe what their experiences are and how Ron said it. Right? Like you can frame being a store manager, working in the store in so many different ways and so many useful skills that you develop, but they don't get to see it that way.[00:18:38] And until we can actually change that, none of the rest of the point is difficult to address. You got to change that initial perception that people have.[00:18:49] Ron Thurston: Yeah. And I think thank you for those compliments. That's really nice. And I'll tell you a funny side story and then I'll make a comment that there was, I was, a general manager for Banana Republic in 1996 in the Houston Galleria. And I just know that because I had moved from LA to Houston for Gap, Inc., and I was running that store and there was a young woman who was 16 at the time and who I hired, who was an absolute rock star.[00:19:16] Her name was Sarah. And she went on to become the vice president of planning and allocation for Neiman Marcus because Texas based and through her journey we had stayed in contact. So today she's a mom of two kids and I was listening to a podcast and she was talking about me and learning those skills early in her career and kind of mentorship and inspiration.[00:19:43] And it isn't as if I been a mentor for her for the last 20 years. But the impact that we can make early in someone's career is it's, it's like parenting. It's like every decision that you make has an influence on someone, how someone engages in the workforce. And I don't ever take that lightly. And I, I encourage others to do the same, but this is a really good example of investing in store level leadership.[00:20:14] And we put so much emphasis in our industry on senior leadership and, how brands set the stage around culture and vision, but it is only done well and executed at the store level. And the whole thing can either be extraordinary and executed at the average store in average place. And Jeff I'm from California.[00:20:38] So I know Mervyn's really well. And that's where I also grew up. But the idea of how does that trickle down, but what does that investment from the ground up versus top down and how we can make a huge difference and just the future of the workforce. And we are in desperate times right now, we see exactly what is happening.[00:21:00] If we don't fix this, we are going to be in a very difficult situation. And for me, this is a fire that we have to fix right now. Priming students for a career in retail[00:21:09] Ricardo Belmar: It is a crisis mode from that perspective. And what I usually talk about is it's years of neglect and just paying lip service to wanting to make conditions better creating career paths that, that are more meaningful.[00:21:21] And it now it's all coming to the surface and, becoming a much more visible problem as workers have realized they have, other options that they can pursue. [00:21:29] I would argue it starts with the industry itself. Right. And I think Ron, this is some of the things that you were pointing out as well, that it has to come from within. Do you have the ability to present what are those career paths that might entice someone.[00:21:42] Walk that path and pursue it as they go into a college setting. So I want to come back on that note then to something else Gautham that you said , back to the point you made about the emerging technologies class that you're doing, what, what are your thoughts on how broad of a retail focused program at a university need?[00:22:01] How much breadth does it need to cover? So things like, the basics of a retail business, for example, but then also, you know, you're, you're talking about emerging technologies, which I would view as one of those more enticing things that might get people who would not consider a career in the retail industry, but maybe is very interested in one of those emerging technologies as a way to learn how that applies in this industry.[00:22:22] But beyond that, even what are some of the other areas that you look to either introduce in your program or that you think, universities are best positioned to really enable that s [00:22:32] Gautham Vadakkepatt: That's a great question. So my own perspective, and look, there are lots of universities that have retail programs, right? So there's always, you got to get what I think we can be safe to say is that you got to get the fundamentals of retail, correct. Before you can build on to things, right. Which would be managing the stores, which would be managing the merchandise and so forth.[00:22:56] And then you got to get to prepare yourself for the future, which is where the emerging technologies. So from my perspective, you need to have a combination of both typically where I see some of the programming lack is that later aspect, being able to react to those waves of destruction that are coming through or create a destruction, right.[00:23:19] And being able to prime the students. To be ready and to be able to respond to those changes. What I always tell my students is a very simple thing. Look, retail is a sector, anything and everything that is cool and current, you can learn and apply in retail. Right? So I've always said this to my students and many of them are computer science students.[00:23:44] They always say, Hey, I don't want to work in retail. And then a year of working with me, then they are actually working in retail. Right. And so there is something for everyone. That's the really awesome part about retail and my job as an academic and most of our academic institutions jobs is to expose students to that options, the variety of options.[00:24:04] And today the cool thing is technology, right? And it's, it's just, it's the cool thing. And many of the, the talent deficit when it comes to that is how do you apply these technologies into re. And most of the students who have the skills and technology don't want to go into retail. So by trying to build these bridging classes, that applied technology into retail, the hope is to get them excited and to keep that pipeline going.[00:24:29] If that makes sense. So I hope I answered the question because it's not one or the other, right. It's talk to get the fundamentals. The merchandising aspect is critical. If you are a retailer, you have to get that right. But you also have to get it right. To understand what's that future of retail look like.[00:24:45] And that's where things like people are doing a really amazing, right. You need to know how do you apply NFT. How do you apply things like blockchain and how do you apply AI into retail? Those are things that you need to understand so that you can do better moving forward.[00:25:00] Ricardo Belmar: I think that's a critical aspect is to really cover that wide variety of things and to kind of create an awareness that says, you know, retail is not just about one thing. You can do all of these other things in this industry as a way to really you know, get those students excited about it and interested in wanting to pursue that career path.[00:25:18] So let's go on to another topic that I think is another significant area that universities can contribute in retail. And that's what I'm going to call community building, which is creating this environment where in addition to students and that young talent pool that you're developing, you're also connecting retailers with other parts of the ecosystem in really a neutral environment, right? It's, you know, you might be connecting other technology providers and vendors. You should be connecting startups even connecting VCs with those startups because you have this kind of neutral platform. I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts around, what would you expect universities to be doing in this area where you're creating that community within the retail ecosystem?[00:26:02] Gautham Vadakkepatt: I'll be the student and I'll listen to all the comments, because this is, [00:26:05] Ricardo Belmar: yeah. I'd like to hear you. Yeah. I'd like to hear your thoughts Gautham at the end. And in fact, I'm going to put Jeff on the spot and ask Jeff to start [00:26:12] Jeff Roster: let's see. What would I like to see? Given that retail is such a large employer and given universities are looking for connections, I would like to see universities that want to engage in retail to have to reach out to the retail industry, set up mentorship programs, set up online conversations set up a clubhouse room to bring in, you know, retail executives and invite students to come and engage.[00:26:35] You know, all of the above, reach out to the industry and say, who wants to, you know, who wants to help transform everything? I mean, you know, Ron, Ron set it up perfectly. W w you know, it's a, what's a five alarm fire going on right now. So let's start, let's start figuring out how to fix it.[00:26:49] Let's open up conversations. Let's, let's think about what university needs to do, you know, in 2023, not what it did in 1980 .[00:26:56] Ricardo Belmar: That's a great point. You got a long list of good suggestions there. Ron, I'll ask you, what, what are some of your thoughts on this point? [00:27:02] Ron Thurston: Yeah, I agree with it all the Jeff said that and, and I think what we can do is make it even less complicated. So when we think about how we, how the industry can insert itself into the, into the education system to make it a a lunch and learn, make it a quick conversation, make it a zoom call with your class.[00:27:26] I know the other night I was on the phone with Ricardo and Casey and then jumped onto a class at NYU of students who were studying law with a focus on retail. And interestingly enough, they had a lot of questions about how the industry actually works. How do retail executives engage with the legal community, how like good experiences I may have had how was the org how are organization set up? It's like they had almost no knowledge of the industry yet they were studying it and choosing a specialty of retail and you know, so fine. It's an hour for me. And that's an easy ask for any of us to just jump in and share our experience, share the brands, share a careers talk about the power of the industry.[00:28:16] And I personally like would like to be asked more. And then I have a large set of peers who would say the same. It's a pleasure because when we were growing up, whether it's Jeff at Mervyn's or, you know, myself at, at Broadway department store to start, and then many years at gap, I would have loved to have heard from other people about how to navigate this industry, that no one's going to teach you how to do, you either figure it out yourself, or you have people around you that you can ask great questions. And so I think ask more and and make it easy for us to do.[00:28:53] Ricardo Belmar: Want to introduce Mia Lupo, who just joined us on stage. I think Mia, you have some thoughts you wanted to share on this topic.Retail Curriculum Example [00:28:58] Mia Lupo: Yeah, sure. Thanks Ricardo. And thanks everyone for being here. I'm gonna share my experience coming from a small liberal arts university, I graduated from Salve Regina university. It's based in Newport, Rhode Island, beautiful school. That's what everyone seems to just test has to say about it, but we do have other things besides being beautiful school.[00:29:19] So one thing I think it depends. It's like the, it's the commitment of higher education to recognize retail is vital and relevant, which we, of course we know that, but you know, having the commitment, having retail integrated in the curriculum. So for example business is the business degrees.[00:29:41] They're a strong arm at Salve Regina's campus. And so one of the professors doctor app grab, she does have a semester course dedicated to retail. And not only does that include, kind of the ins and outs of how retail business works, but it also includes kind of hands-on interactions with alumni who are in retail, working retail currently.[00:30:05] And on top of that, it building upon a depends on the university's commitment to exploring retail, you know, the alumni network. I think that's a huge, under utilized, simple, easy way. For example, Ron was talking about, these meet and greets for like an hour to, talk about who they are, for alumni to talk about who they are, what they do.[00:30:26] And so. For example, for me, I was invited to virtually visit campus and discuss, my career journey and retail, which is, will be nine years, like next year. And a lot of students I believe are curious, but it's like being able to provide those opportunities. And I think, being able to utilize our networks accordingly to, help get the word out.[00:30:51] So that's my 2 cents on that.[00:30:53] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks for sharing that Mia. I appreciate it. So let me pause here at this moment, Gautham you've been listening to everybody's comments so far is anything standing out to you or do you have any strong thoughts either about what everyone has suggested?[00:31:05] Or maybe there are things that we didn't suggest yet? [00:31:09] Gautham Vadakkepatt: No, I love all the suggestions and it, you know, I love it, particularly both Ron and Mia had to say one Ron saying like, it's an hours commitment, right? That the simple, low lying fruit that can actually transform. I can say this personally, like I got about eight speakers in my class, and that was one small comment that one of the speakers made that literally brought one of the students to tears.[00:31:35] And they connected, and then they had some further conversation. So it's a very limited ask, but it can have the potential to transform literally students' life. And so all these simple opportunities, the one that we have said, right. To getting people and talking to the alumni base and so forth, we're trying to do all those things.[00:31:54] But any other thoughts to make students more excited about retail in general would be greatly appreciated. [00:32:02] Mia Lupo: I do have one other thing I can offer. Salve Regina, we do have a center dedicated to connecting small businesses. So for business majors, their final project for the year is to do like the business plan and they are connected with a number of small businesses or small to medium-sized businesses throughout Rhode Island.[00:32:27] And to come up with suggestions and ideas. And I think that something like that, like a hands-on opportunity, connecting with the community is a really interesting way to, you know, kind of give them that real life experience to really fully analyze what it really takes to, be in retail and, the, the opportunity of it now, again, that's, for, a small liberal arts university.[00:32:51] That's just, an example of a smaller scope, but, it's still all the more reason it could be something that's, very important to get students involved. I mean, plenty, plenty of colleges and universities use students, as you know, mini think tanks to, think of so many great ideas and to push their business forward.[00:33:11] So maybe that's something that, larger retailers could invite, could invite students to new, do more projects to submit things. It could be very interesting[00:33:21] Gautham Vadakkepatt: if I could just make one comment on that. I would love the larger retailers to do that, but I will say this on behalf of the small re, like our school does this with the small retailers and there's a lot of it and they give students a great opportunity to make their resume look different. And it also exposes them to the opportunities in retail.[00:33:41] So that'd be a really great opportunity to have. And if there are retailers in the room, please do reach out.[00:33:47] Ricardo Belmar: I do think that is a wonderful idea of, or any kind of project work like that, that you can connect with a retailer that just would provide so much valuable experience for the students to really understand the business and understand the impact of the problem they're trying to solve. But with that project, I think that's just a wonderful, wonderful way to go.Retail vs Commerce - a misperception?[00:34:06] Casey Golden: I think there's also something that I've found is the difference of perception between retail and commerce. The commerce seems to be cooler. And go figure. But what retail means to a lot of people is very different. And everybody seems to understand what commerce is whether or not it's omni-channel or bricks or clicks or, or whatever that is, whether or not it's it's travel or fashion or home goods.[00:34:33] It's kind of just not it's not as, as, as pigeonholed by perception, I'm finding. So I do find that that might be something that is interesting. I find it, I find your program to be so impactful the way that you've, you've designed. As somebody who, I mean, I've got my second bachelor's in apparel design and merchandise planning, and it was still very much designed around the fact and marketed that I was going to be a designer.[00:35:03] And granted, I thought I was going to be a designer till I learned production, but it was never brought up to go into the tech side to go into supply chain management, managing production was never a conversation about an ERP system. And I feel like a lot of the, the more that changes that you can be in tech and be in commerce or retail.[00:35:26] There's a lot of other jobs out there that do pay better than what they may have that preconceived notion of. So I think it's, I think it's all very interesting as we kind of build out these new curriculums and Gautham, I think you're just doing a really great job. [00:35:42] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Thank you. [00:35:43] Ricardo Belmar: That's a really fascinating point you made there Casey about how the perception is different if you frame it in terms of commerce versus retail. And I wonder if, if there's some of that have to do with I guess you were saying right, that the production side of things, or, you know, if you're looking at fascia and it's because you're looking at the design side of it, or is it because in recent years, we've, we've had so much more build up from a media perspective of direct to consumer brands and digitally native brands that somehow that appears different to students than what they might think of as a traditional retailer.[00:36:14] Gautham does that ever come up, but with your students, is there a variation in that perception.[00:36:19] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Absolutely. There is don't, please don't take this the wrong way, but there is a negative perception around retail and that's why I applaud Ron for what he does in changing that initial experience. And it's, it's part of that, right? When you take that frame out of their thinking and you juxta position a different framework, they seem to have a different mindset.[00:36:46] Very, very different mindset. And I'll say it, it is just a mindset issue because through the length of the program, what students have come to realize is that commerce and retail are the same thing, and retail and have for negative connotation. This was one of the students who actually said that they'd like, yeah, I didn't think about all these other things that you had.[00:37:11] The speakers have highlighted as far as being retail. I was like, yeah, but I thought that was all commerce. So that's part of just the mindset mentality that is driven by past lived experiences. And this is where, those first impactful moments are crucial to ensure that the supply of talent into retail continues to be of high quality and addresses the new skills that's needed.[00:37:37] Ricardo Belmar: Perception it's really, it's such an important point an issue to overcome, right? Because it all comes back to that perception of, is this, or is this not an interesting career path for me as a graduating student? And where is it going to lead? I want to kind of connect the dots with this on the, the question of community building, because, we're bringing up a lot of interesting facts around what makes it interesting to that student into that graduating student to stay in the, in the retail industry.[00:38:04] So when I look at community, I'm also thinking about how the university as that kind of neutral environment. And I like to think of it as a neutral environment, because in that sense, the university doesn't have an agenda other than to educate students at this point. So it is neutral from the perspective I believe of the retailer and technology providers.[00:38:24] If we look at this from a perspective of what if the university brought together some of those key technology providers that are doing these new emerging things for retailers and some of the startups that are coming around who are probably also looking for young talent, that they can bring into their startup organization with a fresh perspective and with an ability and understanding of what retailers need to have, because they've been through this program. What can universities do as they pull those together that not just makes it useful and enticing for the students, but then in turn makes it valuable for those organizations.[00:39:00] You know, what's going to make it valuable for the startups to be interested in coming to this neutral environment at the university to meet the students as well as any of the other technology providers. So I want to spend a few minutes on this point and Shish, I think you've got your audio issues sorted out, right?[00:39:15] Shish Shridhar: Yep. [00:39:15] Ricardo Belmar: Really curious to give you a chance to comment on this part. Building an ecosystem for startups[00:39:19] Shish Shridhar: Well, so one of the areas that Gotham and I have been working on figuring out is really trying to build that ecosystem where one, I think the point that he made that that universities are really that neutral place where retailers could go to one of the challenges I find, when working for tech vendor is there is potential perception of bias there and where, there's multiple tech vendors and, and each one will come in with the buyers for their technology. And universities are in a position to kind of work across all of these tech vendors and be able to pick the best of the, startups out there and make recommendations based on that.[00:40:08] So I kind of think from that perspective, there is a possibility for us to bring together identify what are the top innovations happening? What's the emerging technologies happening and a respective of what tech vendor they are affiliated to, to have that unbiased rating and capabilities being listed out.[00:40:31] So that's one aspect of it. And what you pointed out is, you know students and engaging students is an important element for, for startups. And that ecosystem could be beneficial for startups as well where they could engage, collaborate with startups, with the students. The other aspect of it that Gautham and I have been talking about is really building GMU to be the place where startups could be born.[00:41:00] One. Really reaching out to retailers to determine what are the big business challenges that retailers are trying to solve today that we don't have solutions for. And then building out potentially maybe a hackathon around that and bringing together students, bringing together startups to help address those challenges, providing the resources for that, and then building an ecosystem that will create startups, innovative startups that are trying to solve the top problems in retail.[00:41:37] And that's again, another aspect that Gautham and I have been talking about as well. [00:41:42] Casey Golden: Yeah, I think that's really great. I just spoke to Northwestern. And they have a, program of, they call them company cohorts and companies come in and it's almost like a job fair at the beginning of a term. And you literally, the students go in there and they sign up for a cohort with a company and they spend the next 16 weeks working for the company as their class.[00:42:12] I find it incredibly interesting. And the person I was speaking to mentioned that there's a huge interest in fashion and retail and retail tech and direct to consumer brands and people who want to open up their own or work in that field. But there was no brands or retailers or fashion companies that are part of the cohort.[00:42:34] And so, you know, JP Morgan's there, Bain is there, there's, there's all these other companies, but there wasn't any brands or retailers. So I think that that's a really good way as just reaching out even and putting ourselves with the universities to, to build it so that we can also, you know, start developing that talent early and these students get a chance to participate.[00:43:00] They even have a venture program, which I found really interesting. Ron and I both met this gal Gabby when we were in Dominican Republic , and they have a, a venture analyst team there and they work with the alumni for deal flow so that these people, these students are able to start understanding venture capital.[00:43:23] And they're just, they're just helping startups. To get experience,[00:43:30] you know, so I think more practical ways that, and it's, it's considered a cohort and it's a 16 week class. Just like if you were going in to taking a class for biology, but you're actually working for companies, [00:43:41] Ricardo Belmar: what a great experience. [00:43:43] Gautham Vadakkepatt: I was going to say, I love that idea. And you know, Casey to your point generally, what academics, what is common across all academia is that there is a gap, right?[00:43:54] Like once you get into a company takes my statistics, are it takes two years to kind of bring them on board or that's the statistics that I've been provided. So doing these kinds of cohorts stuff, actually sharpens that. Right. And so they get hit the ground running. I hadn't thought about that. So it'd be wonderful to get retail involved in something like that.[00:44:16] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I think that would be a fantastic experience for everyone involved that would be producing really amazing outcomes too. I think that would be fascinating. [00:44:24] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, a lot of times these new grads, they they're not ready for the job. [00:44:28] Ricardo Belmar: And I think that's a great way to kind of give them that early exposure, right?[00:44:31] Casey Golden: Yeah. Really getting that early exposure. And you know, we have a history of wooing people into the fashion industry about trips to Paris and living in New York. And we never, there's no TV show that ever mentions that you're spending, you know, nine hours a day in an Excel file. [00:44:55] Ricardo Belmar: I think that part gets edited out of each episode.[00:44:59] Casey Golden: And then you don't realize how much math you. The amount of math that you do in retail would make any person's head spin that they didn't realize you could do math like that. And I think that that's, that's something that's definitely underlooked or overlooked. Right. You know, like it's heavy math.[00:45:19] Gautham Vadakkepatt: It's true. I will support that point even to this day when I, my classes is always numbers heavy. And they're like, this is retail. I'm like, yeah, it does retail. That's what you got to do fully agree with that last [00:45:36] Casey Golden: No, you get marketing and go into fashion is like pretty much what is that? That, that commentary? I wouldn't have ever really learned math if it wasn't for Polo University. I started out Ralph Lauren, I got handed a $30 million business and they put me into retail math classes every Friday.[00:45:57] So I think it, I think it's really important that students know really what's expected of these jobs and especially the senior positions on what it's going to take to get you there. And if, if you're prepared you don't have to be that coordinator for that long. [00:46:17] Ricardo Belmar: That's a great, great point.[00:46:18] And also speaks to an opportunity where the retailers that don't have that kind of Polo University, they should be working with universities to create those professional programs and make them available for both, you know, any existing executives or anyone who's wants to go down that path and get to those positions and have that available to them.[00:46:37] So they don't research it and feel like they have to do that in house, right. They have access to other education institutions that can help them with that. And then would love to see more of that happening. [00:46:47] I have one last topic to throw out for everyone. And I'm going to direct this one to Jeff first as who we all collectively always refer to as "the analyst."Universities drive neutral research [00:46:55] Ricardo Belmar: And this point is really about how university can contribute as a, again, focusing on the neutrality aspect of it, but as a neutral research platform that, and be able to research and contribute to the different projects in that way, in a way that, you know, you can't expect other vendors or technology provider sources to do, to do things that retailers are trying to solve. So, Jeff, what's your, what are some of your thoughts on that research perspective? [00:47:19] Jeff Roster: Well, I mean, you got it. You got it exactly right. The only neutral platform out there is universities and could maybe make the case. They, you know, a vendor might have some influence there, but no, no one else is neutral.[00:47:31] Literally. No one else's neutral and no one has as many scientists and engineers and want to be scientists and want to be engineers. So to me, It's just such a natural marriage. I just love, love what Casey said. What gosh, how could I, how could I get into that training program for venture? What if I could fake, like I'm a kid again?[00:47:51] It just, it's such a logical place to go. We're all trying to figure out the next iteration of, of the consumer. And guess who's sitting, sitting, you know, in a giant sea of these consumers, it's the university who is who, who is paid to research universities. You know, it's just such a perfect venue that I don't think we in retail have really even begun to scratch the surface of.[00:48:14] And that's why, I love what Gautham is doing now. He's stepping out and not just talking about supply chain or not just talking about merchandising, but, but really if you look at a lot of the work it's it's AI, which I'm obviously a huge fan of it's low code it's, it's blockchain, it's all of these emerging technologies that these kids are going to get exposed to.[00:48:33] And whether they stay in retail or not, they're going to be literally working with 21st century technologies. And I just, I just think this is a fantastic opportunity for, for literally everyone involved, including the executives that'll get involved, they'll gain five X more than they'll ever give. You cannot out-give generosity.[00:48:50] It always, it always comes back fivefold. [00:48:53] Casey Golden: Well, that's it. These are our customers, you know, like crazy. They are our customers. We want them about to get jobs.[00:49:02] They are our customers. I worked at Abercrombie and Fitch back when that was super cool to do. And I was always very impressed. At the time I was there in order to get a job at corporate or move into corporate, you had to be a store manager. Unless you were like probably some very senior executive that got transferred in.[00:49:24] Otherwise you had to be a store manager for at least one year before you could take a job at corporate. And I fought, I felt that that was such a great way to bring everybody in with. Real experience managing the stores. And they too did all of their recruiting. At high schools and colleges, they had a huge footprint on campus.[00:49:48] I mean, I went to games like I was at football games. I was at basketball games with like five to 10 people on my staff, recruiting employees to come work at the store, but there was such a presence on campus and the brand was on, was there and coming to games and starting to make that impact. And, you know, at that every single what, two days a week, we had a minimum of 50 people wanting to interview twice a week.[00:50:19] And there was huge amounts of people that wanted to work at the company because. You know, one of the reasons is we showed up.[00:50:26] So I think that, you know, there's a lot of opportunity there to get involved with, with more campuses and, and get the brand presence involved with the culture so that people are aware and, and they've known for a long time and, and they got to work for the company. They got to intern for the company.[00:50:44] And that's the beginning of brand equity. I feel in a lot of places. [00:50:48] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that becomes a much more collaborative environment and in much more inclusive that way. And I think you're absolutely right in calling it a brand equity, because it really just creates an affinity for not just that brand, but even for the industry as a whole.[00:51:02] Gautham, I know you have a specific point of view on contributions that universities can make on the research perspective. So I wanted to hear your thoughts [00:51:10] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Yeah, my job is correlated with my research productivity, right? Teaching is a required aspect, but I get evaluated mostly on my research.[00:51:20] And so there is a large opportunity for universities to get involved in research that addresses industry specific problems. Right? All universities are trying to do these things, right. So it is, it is a shared responsibility. It's a shared dance. It can't be that one person comes to the table. It has to be everyone.[00:51:41] And by that, I mean, the retailers, as well as the vendors all have to come together to do research that actually helps advance industry, but really are, we get paid to do research, right? Why not leverage us and our students, actually, many of us students crave to do research as well. And so this is a good training ground to get the future prepared for what it is, it hones their thinking ability, it hones their ability to do research.[00:52:12] It also gives them a deeper dive into specific industries. So for me, I get most excited about the opportunity to do research and the, the possibility of the center and full disclosure, every center, and most institutions try to do. Right. The opportunity to partner with retailers or retail associations to address industry specific problems excites me.[00:52:38] The challenge is trying to figure out how to do the dance, right? How do we how do we do the research that helps both the university as well as a retailer, while still maintaining the critical aspect that Jeff said neutrality to be the neutral ground. We don't have an option. We cannot pick sides. And so we have to be neutral and that requires more detail, more thoughtful and careful research.[00:53:04] Ricardo Belmar: I hear what you're saying. I think you're absolutely right. And it's one of these things that's so overlooked, I think by the industry when there's so much opportunity here, because as you pointed out, one of your primary roles is to do research. And as, as every university is doing, and the students have a very big role to play in, in many cases, in that research. So it's just something that the industry and I think Jeff said this as well, just doesn't take enough advantage of and, and leveraging to really understand how they could solve so many different problems by just looking at this research. And, and again, from that neutral point of view, because the university is not doing this from a perspective that some vendors are going to be perceived as yes, we'll help you figure out that problem because we hope to sell you something at the end.[00:53:48] And sometimes that's true. Sometimes that's not. But from the university's perspective, that's not even in anyone's head, right. It's not a goal that anyone has is just do the research to see what the outcome is. And then what can we learn from that? And how can that be applied? And that's something that would be a benefit to any retailer.[00:54:04] When you look at it, what can be done in that kind of outcome? [00:54:07] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Yeah. And if I may add, right, there's also the opportunity that each retailer or solution provider, whatever we'll house specific problems that are particular to them, right. And they might not have the bandwidth or the resources to dedicate time and effort to do it.[00:54:23] These might not be high priority, obviously should not be high priority problems. But these could be problems that are important to their operations. And this could be another chance to partner with universities and faculty and students to kind of get those problems addressed, get some insights from there and, you know, move from there.[00:54:41] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that's another excellent point on the research component to this. And just for me, more, more reasons why that should be leveraged more often and in so many more ways that are just a missed opportunity and the way it's looked at today. Closing thoughts[00:54:56] Ricardo Belmar: I think we could probably talk for even another hour on this topic. I think, you know, Gautham, I think I probably won the bet on that one about how much interest there would be in how long this conversation would go. But we, we were kind of curious what to everyone would want to contribute to this discussion, but I think we've actually touched on a lot of different areas.[00:55:12] I want to give Gautham, Ron, both of you as our special guests this week. Any, any last thoughts you have before we close?[00:55:19] Ron Thurston: Thanks. Thank you, Ricardo. It's so interesting because we all, we all can be involved in this. And I think that the conversation from the brand side to find new ways to develop and hire and train and bring people into this industry is at a point where new ideas have to come forward and, and capitalizing on some of this university partnership.[00:55:45] Could 2022 could be the year where this actually gets much better. And that's what I'm hearing tonight is, we, some of us have had great experiences when it was really good and in some earlier years and we have to get back to that place. That's how people came into this industry. Many of us did, we have to get back there and now is the time to do that well, and it's, it's actually really exciting, as hard as it is right now.[00:56:12] I find the opportunity to be really thrilling what the future is going to look like. So thank you for having me tonight. [00:56:18] Ricardo Belmar: Thank you, Ron. I think you're spot on the fact that this is a subject area where everyone has an ability to help move things forward and contribute for the better of the industry.[00:56:29] And I think it just requires that everyone participate at the end of the day and in whatever ways those are you know, and I think universities and academics have a really great ability to help lead us on this path. Gautham, any final thoughts. [00:56:42] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head Ricardo and Ron.[00:56:44] First, Ron, thank you for all the mentorship. Right? We need mentors. We need people who will step up and thanks to everyone who does that. And we need more of that. We can change the dialogue if more people step up and thank you for everyone who's doing it. The second aspect is that, the George Mason university is just one of the centers that's trying to change retail, right? There are lots of schools just connect with academia in general, and to try and make those moments, those contact points with the students to help and our faculty to help change the conversation. And it could be an hour long.[00:57:23] Most schools, at least Mason has a program where you tell me how many hours you want to engage with our institution and we'll get you into the right type of program for that. And it could be from a research perspective, it would be from a teaching perspective, it could be from a mentorship perspective.[00:57:42] So this is a call for anyone and everyone to kind of come support the centers, as well as all academic institutions. We're trying to change the conversation.[00:57:52] Ricardo Belmar: thanks Gautham. I appreciate you and Ron joining us today. I think this was probably one of my favorite topics that we've done in the room and in recent memory. Kind of feel like we came to the end here with, with very significantly more positive vibe maybe then we came into it because we had so many constructive and useful suggestions that everyone offered.[00:58:10] I'm really pleasantly surprised that we had such wonderful contributions to a topic that doesn't really get enough attention for the betterment of the retail industry. So again, I want to thank everybody for having joined us today in the Retail Razor room and everybody have a great weekend. Gautham Vadakkepatt Interview[00:58:24] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome back everybody. We are fortunate to have one of our special guests with us, Gautham Vadakkepatt, director of the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason University. [00:58:33] Casey Golden: Welcome to the show. Gautham, glad to have you with us today. [00:58:36] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Thank you for having me. [00:58:38] Ricardo Belmar: So Gotham one area, we didn't get a chance to dig into very much in the clubhouse session is a bit related to what Shish brought up in relation to startups.[00:58:47] And that's building an ecosystem of technology innovation and thought leadership around retail operations, and retail te

S1E1 – The Retail Avengers & The Future of Frontline Staff, Part 1Welcome to Season 1, Episode 1, the first-ever episode of The Retail Razor Show!I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top 100 Retail Influencer, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I'm your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we're your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, there'll be something for you!In episode 1 we dive into the future of retail frontline workers, with none other than Ron Thurston, author of Retail Pride, The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career. Ron joins our Retail Avengers team on Clubhouse to talk about what retailers need to do to foster the right environment for their store teams.For more information about Ron, and how you can Take Pride Today in your retail career, visit Ron's website: https://www.retailpride.comThe Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - ****https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTThe Retail Avengers & The Future of Frontline Staff, Part 1[00:00:20] Ricardo: Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. No matter what time of day you're listening. Welcome. Welcome to season one, episode one, the first ever episode of the retail razor show. I'm your host Ricardo Belmar, a top 100 retail influencer and lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft.[00:00:37] Casey: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden CEO of Luxlock and Slayer of retail frankenstacks, [00:00:43] Ricardo: retail, frankenstacks. I love that intro. I really need to get a tagline like that. Casey. [00:00:48] Casey: Slaying, frankenstacks. It's a messy job it's earned.[00:00:51] Ricardo: Oh, I believe it![00:00:52] Casey: So I'm super stoked to kick off our first episode ever of the show! [00:00:56] Ricardo: I am too. I am too. So let's talk a little bit about what the show will be like. This all started some months ago with the retail razor club on clubhouse and a powerhouse group of retail experts and thought leaders to just talk retail, talk tech and host some really good deep discussions on what we think people in this industry need to make a difference and to be a change maker.[00:01:14] Casey: Tell us more Ricardo, tell us more. I feel like we need some dramatic [00:01:20] music here [00:01:20] Ricardo: and maybe for episode two, we'll add some budget for dramatic music. So our goal is to cut through all the noise, cut through the clutter, make it all actionable. Let everybody learn from the people who've actually done things.[00:01:33] Anyone who's solving challenges and not afraid to expose the hard truths.. [00:01:37] Casey: And best of all, since we started this on clubhouse, we made it interactive. So people could ask tough questions and voice their opinions. [00:01:44] Ricardo: A hundred percent, a hundred percent all the way. This is an open forum. One that really moves the industry forward.[00:01:50] By sharing deep, deep knowledge, we started an amazing series of rooms initially called retail tech predictions 2025. But you know, our group quickly earned the nickname, the Retail Avengers, [00:02:00] Casey: Captain America., right here![00:02:02] Ricardo: And I am iron man, you know, you're right Casey. We really do need some dramatic music and we got to work on that [00:02:06] Casey: maybe by episode three next time, next time.[00:02:10] Ricardo: Yeah, episode three, that I'm going to take, make a note of that. Okay. So in each episode listeners will hear one of our fabulous clubhouse rooms and we'll bring back [00:02:20] guests from those discussions for a few last words. But don't think that's all we have to offer in future episodes. We're going to introduce new segments, extra guests, and we'll also have some unique interview sessions that we're going to record in another app called Callin. [00:02:32] Casey: Can't wait for those. [00:02:34] So Ricardo, who's our special guests for the opening episode. [00:02:37] Ricardo: We are starting up strong with one of the best out there. Ron Thurston, the author of the book, Retail Pride, former head of stores at Intermix and quite possibly, one of our favorite retail executives out there.[00:02:48] Right? Casey, [00:02:49] Casey: I'm a fan. Let's get to it! [00:02:50] Ricardo: Okay. So let's quickly introduce the rest of our Retail Avengers team and everyone will be hearing from them quite often in these sessions. So besides Casey and myself, we have Jeff Roster, fellow RETHINK Retail, top one hundred influencer and fellow advisory council member at the George Mason University Center for Retail Transformation and former analyst.[00:03:11] Then we have Shish Shridhar, the global retail lead at Microsoft for Startups.[00:03:16] Casey: And Brandon Rael transformation delivery strategy leader at [00:03:20] Reach Partners, and one of my faves, Trevor Sumner, CEO of Perch Interactive. [00:03:25] Ricardo: All right. So without further delay, let's give a listen to the Retail Avengers and the future of Frontline Staff, Part 1.Clubhouse Session[00:03:42] Ricardo: So with that my name is Ricardo Belmar. I host the retail razor club here on Clubhouse. Retail tech guy have been in retail tech for the better part of the last two decades, working at various different solution providers and managed service providers, and of course, I like to say the best technology in retail is the kind that's seamless and transparent that you don't even notice.[00:04:02] Jeff: Hi Jeff Roster co-host of this week in innovation and serve on several advisory boards and a former Gartner and IHL retail sector analyst [00:04:11] Brandon: Hi, Brandon Rael here. I'm currently one of the transformation and delivery and strategy leaders here at Reach Partners a consultancy. My background is retail and consumer products, industries, and I've been working in the strategy consulting space, focusing predominantly on digital and it's impact on organizations and helping companies transform and evolve.[00:04:29] Casey: Hi, Casey here, founder of Luxlock we're a retail experience platform and we are deploying an independent workforce and re-skilling them. So I love this topic of the conversation. Worked a lot in enterprise retail tech [00:04:42] and on the e-commerce side. So excited to be here you guys, fun conversation! [00:04:46] Ricardo: Definitely will be! Shish. [00:04:47] Shish: Hi, good afternoon. I'm the retail lead at Microsoft for Startups and I'm actually working on building out a portfolio of retail tech B2B startups solving complex business challenges in retail. Absolutely love the topic that we're we're we're we're talking about today. Looking forward to it. Thank you. [00:05:03] Ricardo: I see Trevor has joined us. Trevor why don't you do a quick intro. [00:05:06] Trevor: My name is Trevor Sumner. I'm the CEO of perch. We do interactive displays in IOT that detect which products you touch and like minority report. They just wake up and start telling you about the product, they call them shelf talkers. So I've been deep in retail and retail tech for almost a decade now. So excited to be on board with everybody here. [00:05:26] Ricardo: All right. Wonderful. We have a special guest with us this week, Ron Thurston author of the book, retail pride, which I highly recommend.[00:05:33] Ron, why don't you go ahead and give us your introduction [00:05:36] Ron: hi everyone. Thank you. Yes. My name is Ron Thurston and I am the author of Retail Pride, the guide to [00:05:42] celebrating your accidental career, which is really about recognizing the hard work that the millions of people that work in all of our stores all around the world do every day.[00:05:50] And my full-time role is as the vice president of stores Intermix which officially today is a freestanding business on its own no longer under the Gap umbrella. And so we have a lot of exciting momentum behind us now being privately held and it will be an exciting adventure. And I sit on the board of directors of Goodwill here for New York and New Jersey, which also has a really exciting retail component to it, which I'm happy to talk about.[00:06:18] So thanks for inviting me, Ricardo. [00:06:19] Ricardo: Fantastic. We're really happy to have you here with us today, Ron, this is a topic that I know many of us on the panel have been wanting to do for a while. Not the least of which is because of the added focus that retail frontline workers have seen over the past 15 months.[00:06:34] Frontline Worker Sentiment[00:06:34] Ricardo: I want to ask everybody on the panel, What's the sentiment these days about frontline workers, has it swung more positive to the point where [00:06:42] frontline workers are going to get the recognition that they deserve to have for the job they do and the service they provide to customers and retail brands? [00:06:49] Ron, I'm going to ask you to respond first because I'd really like to hear what your feeling is on that. [00:06:53] Ron: Sure. Thanks, Ricardo. I have probably never been more excited about the opportunity for store teams. And I think as customers have come back in and , every day it's getting bigger, the opportunity to recognize in many ways the increased skillset necessary to manage the emotional, the tougher part of retail in conjunction with more tech in conjunction with higher customer demands and kind of new ways to shop has put this pressure and, excitement back into stores and the training that's necessary. [00:07:29] The up skill in the hiring process has never been more important. They, kind of challenge of the value of the brick and mortar business in compared to e-commerce.[00:07:39] This is the time where more [00:07:42] than ever, we need highly skilled people that are, that work in brick and mortar, retail, and are compensated for that work and the business models that are evolving out of it.[00:07:52] And I think it's just every day, I'm more excited about what I'm seeing my own business and what I'm reading about every day.[00:07:59] Brandon: I could not agree more with Ron. , if anything, the pandemic has accelerated the recognition of how critical the retail staff or brand ambassador to the store associates and how important they are to run the operation of building that trusted relationship with the customer.[00:08:15] I consider that the retail associates, part of the last mile of fulfillment and not necessarily the product, but of the relationship of the brand or the brand equity. [00:08:23] people go to the store to engage, to get inspired, to discover. And, , I'm all digital first. We know everyone is digital first and shopping e-commerce, , percentage wise, it's still , 15% of the business is converted on ecommerce.[00:08:36] The physical stores are as critical as ever to bridge that digital and physical gap and the journey [00:08:42]may begin in the store may ultimately end on the retailer's app, but the store associates plays a vital role in that relationship.[00:08:47] Casey: A hundred percent. , one of our biggest goal, which was to deploy an on-demand distributed workforce and it's been pretty amazing to put a lot of people back to work and give them opportunities to sell products that they've never had access to because they worked at a single brand.[00:09:02] Shish: agree with everyone I think there is going to be a big transformational element to it as well. I kind of look at the convenient spot of retail. There's a lot of things that has accelerated, during COVID, , BOPIS in particular. And I think that is going to change what the frontline workers do and, how to do it.[00:09:23] For example, I think there's going to be so much more focused on click and collect orders, because, cashierless becoming more prominent and accelerated. I also think the assisting the self checkout will be one aspect that frontline workers will be doing more of. There might also be a lot of clientelling [00:09:42] that has accelerated as a result.[00:09:43] And also I think from the experiential part of retail, that's going to be a lot more skills and expertise needed because that is leaning more towards that personalized, aspect of it where engaging with customers becomes more more of a requirement. [00:10:02] Trevor: Yeah. I agree with that. I think one of the transformational changes underlying is data. Because of the need for real-time inventory and product information for BOPIS for better supply chain management and COVID is an accelerator for that.[00:10:17] All of a sudden, we've normalized all this data that we can now put in the hands of sales associates. It's not their fault. If you go to a Macy's and you ask your question about what inventory looks like. Yeah, go look at those screens. They're green screens, right? I think they were programmed with punch cards.[00:10:29] Now that has all been changing, right? So the data is now available in normalized and formatted. It's now accessible, not just to be a tablets and iPads in the hands of sales associates, but, even like with Theatro in [00:10:42] a, in a mic format in an ear piece. So that's one piece of it. The second Shish hit on around you have the experiential being more part of it.[00:10:49] And that means being able to do brand storytelling. And while I love the thought that that's all gonna be done by purchasing digital tools like that, I, the role as a sales associate is going to be critical.[00:10:56] Ricardo: Interesting points there about the added roles for store associates to do, especially in light of things like picking up online orders in the store, other operational processes, either for picking product off the shelf to fulfill those orders, that these are new roles, new skills, new functions, we're asking those store associates to do and asking them to leverage real-time data about customers they're working with or items in the store, whether it's product information or other operational components.[00:11:23] Frontline Roles[00:11:23] Ricardo: One of the things that I would like to get into next is what are some of these additional roles? We've mentioned a few now, which were brought about by the nature of the pandemic, but what other new roles are we going to see frontline workers in retail taking on and particularly what are the required skills and I'll reference, really interesting article that I believe was in the wall street [00:11:42] journal about Levi's offering machine learning training for their retail workers. Presumably because it's a recognition that the need to understand data is going to become so much more important in how these frontline workers work with customers.[00:11:56] So what does everyone think of that? [00:11:58] Ron: I can jump in Ricardo , it's Ron. I actually think that the, width of the skillset has become so wide today that it's kind of become less about we're all cross-trained and we're all good in retail. We could work in stock room and we can work on the sales floor and we can do visual merchandising.[00:12:15] I think it's actually become a little more segmented than said if I have a skillset that is highly engaged and motivated and I'm good on camera for live selling, I'm good in front of customers, I can sell via chat that you have that level of personality. It's actually fully embracing that and saying, let's give you[00:12:34] that kind of customer facing roles or chat roles and not try to expect you to also run out to the curb and do a BOPIS [00:12:42] order and also fulfill a web order in the stock room, or when can you work an overnight to change the visual merchandising? I think we have to say, we have a team of people who are really good at tech people who are maybe good at tasks and people who are highly customer centric because what's coming with the customer coming in today more than ever wants a level of engagement.[00:13:03] And has it's curious, wants to be educated, wants to be styled once all the things that they haven't had. And that, that skill is really high. So I'm actually even looking at my own organization and saying, it's actually less about cross training and more about specialization and being the best version of that specialty based on your skills and your experience and your personality.[00:13:26] Because today, we're also expecting you to be on Instagram. We expect you to live sell. We expect you to, kind of show up every day in a new most highest version of what that would look like in the past. [00:13:39] Trevor: I really loved that. And one of the reasons [00:13:42] is because, I think this provides a new sense of career pathing, and compensation structures.[00:13:48] And so, Ron, I would love to, to understand better how you start thinking through that as the head of stores at the end, you get certified as, an influencer or as a live seller, or for example, there are technologies where during your downtime, you might do online clientelling and reach out in on a one-to-one basis.[00:14:05] Are you.becoming a certified personal shopper. And each of these, has a course associated with that. Some type of certification, some real-time training and evaluation, but also a better pay, better training. And not feeling like you're stuck in a specific kind of job that says a generalist with no place to go.[00:14:25] Ron: I was just going to say it, and having led apple stores. That's very much the apple model. You are a specialist and maybe you in phone or Mac or in software, and then you're next. kind of even more of a specialty or in training or in genius bar. [00:14:42] And that every step is a career trajectory. And I think in fashion, we've also kind of thought of it as we all have to be good at everything.[00:14:50] And I actually think it's more of the apple model, which is very structured and create benchmarks for growth. I agree with you, Trevor.[00:14:59] Casey: I was just going to say that, now that sales associates are able to sell online and get that commission tracked and productivity tracked, it changes the entire model of every single salesperson is able and has the opportunity to become a million dollar seller and not make $35,000 a year or 40,000, $50,000 a year.[00:15:20] We've seen the most of having what the industry used stylists for before, which is doing content on a, on an Instagram or putting lookbooks together or working in, like a stitch fix model and putting outfits or clothes into a box. They're coming to us and they have the passion. They have the skillset, they have the know-how, but they've never talked to a customer before.[00:15:41] And [00:15:42] so they don't know fit, they just get returned. And so, being able to communicate with the client, maintain that relationship over time and learn fit. We've actually had to start segmenting just like Trevor was saying is we're essentially segmenting talent into different talent pools and putting programs together to bring people who have worked at Citrix for the last six years into being able that they would be skilled enough to walk into Gucci on the floor and do a million dollars in sales. And so it's been really interesting and I think that there's going to be a lot of, differentiation between I'm a stylist versus I'm a sales person or a personal shopper right now.[00:16:24] I can't get a single person to agree on what they want to be called because salespeople don't want to be called the stylist and everybody gets called and everybody's called the stylist on Instagram. If you can put an outfit together. So it's like almost [00:16:42] diluted that job title almost in a way where no, I'm more than that. It's been interesting. We're still trying to figure out what. What everybody is going to be called.[00:16:54] Brandon: Is this the transformation evolution of what a store associate really is? I think to Ron's point and Trevor's point, there certainly is doing an operation stocking shelves or whatever else. Actually, what I want engagement with the customer is blended with the arts and sciences of social media, digital marketing, and micro influencing [00:17:14] Ricardo: I agree. I think it's fascinating point here about segmenting and the skills and Ron I like how you compare that to an apple model. One of the things that comes to my mind when I hear everyone saying that is a sort of implies a need for more staff in the store, as you get more specialized, depending of course, on what kind of store it is for format. It is the size of the store. The product categories are in, but if I were to generalize it, it makes me believe that I'm going to need [00:17:42] more staff. The more I specialize in to handle each of these different aspects. And if I compare again to an apple store for me as a consumer, walking into an apple store, there's an overwhelming number of staff.[00:17:52] Trevor: And also think about the revenue per square foot. [00:17:55] Ricardo: That too. Exactly. [00:17:57] Ron: I think that [00:17:58] on a really high margin business, you do have more room for that.[00:18:04] Ricardo: So you distinguish between luxury retailers at that point versus a discounter value retailer, where the model may be sufficiently different, that you don't need to apply that. segmentation or specialization of skills. [00:18:15] Trevor: You mean there's not going to be stylists at dollar stores[00:18:21] Ricardo: that would be, the question, [00:18:22] Shish: natural progression, but there is a customer expectation, which is generally followed by retail tech, responding to it. And one of the aspects that's really happening out there is technologies providing capabilities to address some of these things. For example, expertise in stores.[00:18:39] Today there is an expectation for [00:18:42] expertise. When you go into a store, a specialized store where, electronics or something like that, where you need a store associates to have a lot more knowledge, but with technology capabilities, it is possible to sort of democratize that make available. The expertise from different stores right across all of the stores. And those kinds of things are really making it possible to, to address those expectations as well. [00:19:09] Trevor: Yeah. I mean, one of the things that I'm a big fan of is that's kind of pushing out a technology to the edge. And certainly I look at this through my perch lens.[00:19:17] Which is, when you think about putting the digital experience has guided product storytelling that is available to obviously all the consumers on their own, but also the sales associates. But similarly, if you've got an iPad in your hand, that's a training device for downtime.[00:19:31] That's a career pathing and improvement device. and you can make the most of the hours that you're in store. So I think this pushing technology to the edge and into the fingertips of everyone, has the ability for those [00:19:42] who have the motivation and the desire to hold those skillsets up rapidly than what was available to them in the past.[00:19:48] Ron: A bit of a counter to the, more is better is that this is an industry in brick and mortar retail that has not always been given the accolade as a career that it deserves.[00:19:59] And sometimes this, people that are highly committed and highly skilled, and this is very much an intentional career become that much better at their job. They are retained longer and sometimes it's kind of a quality versus quantity. And so you could actually have a smaller team that's highly skilled, very engaged, works really well under, whatever kind of product categories you're selling and the culture of the company, but provide a level of service because of their expertise and their commitment to the industry.[00:20:30] And that's, I think the kind of temporary nature sometimes of people in stores then requires, more of them versus fewer that are highly skilled. And then, so it's a conversation and a balance that I [00:20:42] think every retailer, is talking about today. [00:20:44] Ricardo: I think that's true. I agree with you I like to view the technology piece of that in many cases, equalizer, sometimes to address the point, you just mentioned about the temporary aspect of people coming and going, and then the turnover and some ways if done properly and seamlessly enough, I think the technology can help normalize that approach a little bit and compensate for loss of skill. When you have people that leave that were perhaps one of those high-end skilled individuals that really knew how to do that job. And therefore they could handle working with many customers at once versus perhaps some of the other staff that are newer at the role might only be able to handle one or two at a time, depending on the type of store environment that you were in.[00:21:25] Question from Evan Kirstel[00:21:25] Ricardo: I want to turn attention over to, Evan who's joined us on stage. Why don't you go ahead and give us your question for the panel. [00:21:30] Evan Kirstel: Yeah. Happy Friday, everyone. I've been most interested in the technology side of retail behind the scenes. I laughed out loud, referenced to green CRT screen [00:21:42] flashing. Sadly, see that far too often. [00:21:46] Ricardo: still see that too often. I agree. [00:21:48] Evan Kirstel: Yeah. Well, the other hand, I talked to a lot of clients who are participating in the kind of digital transformation of retail. And I'd love your opinion on who were some of the players to watch.[00:21:58] I mean, when I'm talking to a lot lately with Facebook workplace or workplace from Facebook, it's their enterprise communications division. So basically taking all of their messaging and video and apps and tools and enabling, or powering retailers like Petco and Domino's and others to improve the employee experience.[00:22:18] So think about, group messaging and calling video tension, live video streaming education, all kinds of analytics around that as well. Are you seeing adoption of more modern communication tools like that or others or what's most interesting to you when it comes to, real-time communication messaging, voice, video, or other apps within the frontline for the workers. [00:22:40] Jeff: Are we talking about [00:22:42] retailers or are we talking about services, service providers to retail? [00:22:45] Evan Kirstel: Yeah, the retailers are adopting a lot of these tools with their frontline employees, for employee engagement, employee communications messaging. We used to call the intranet, but it's basically apps on phones now.[00:22:57] Ricardo: And so we could look at this from both perspectives. I think Jeff, from the prospective of which retailers are doing this well, and what kind of technology are they using?[00:23:04] Ron: I mean, I can share what I use on today, which is retail zip-line line, which is actually used by all of gap, Inc. which is an incredible platform and not an intranet. But it's a communication tool. It's a tracking tool. It's a way to send out quick messages. There's a lot of functionality from multiple reasons. But I think within the store team at every level, day in day out, I've not actually not seen one that does that, come seamlessly that everyone uses without providing, devices to everyone, which is depending on the state and depending on what's happening, that can be a tricky conversation.[00:23:38] But so far that's what I've seen and, has worked really well for me. [00:23:41] Casey: [00:23:42] I'm obviously biased, but, there's going to be a lot more tools that are going to be coming in over the next, 12 to 18 months just because this was a really hard product to sell into a brand three years ago.[00:23:55] A lot of people, in this space that wanted to do it, had to pivot into doing something else because it was just a hard sell. But now I think that, It's going to be a requirement. Just as standard as, having a computer at work, if you have sales associates, and they're going to have to have a tool.[00:24:12] So I think we're going to see more of a standardized school. That's going to be coming out that more brands will start using the same one. But right now everybody's kind of spread all across the board. And there's reasons that brands are choosing one over the other. There hasn't really been one that does everything necessarily doesn't necessarily even do everything well, but obviously I'm biased with my own, but, there's pros and cons to kind of everything right now.[00:24:35] I think we'll see the leader next year. [00:24:36] Shish: And a lot of examples that I've seen, one of them is a startup that I'm working with, called askSID[00:24:42] they have to QR code, on wine bottles or the shelves and customers can scan it and it instantly brings an expert to them and they can ask questions have a conversation.[00:24:52] So this is one way that retailers have actually, really figured out how can they have experts in every store that knows their wines really well without necessarily staffing every store. [00:25:04] Another example I've seen as for call centers itself, where, the expertise that they wanted to provide was to a chat bot. So when a customer calls a call center, the challenges the call center person is looking up information. There's a lot of delays. They're following up an app in the background, doing the search, trying to find the answers to the question the customer wants. So what they're doing to empower this is there is a chat bot and AI based chat bot that is picking up the customer call at the same time in parallel to the human operator.[00:25:39] And the chat bot is [00:25:42] transcribing the call, learning the intent of the questions that the customer is asking, connecting to backe nd showing it to the call center operator at the same time. And this essentially means that the call center operators is far more intelligent in his responses is able to respond very quickly and efficiently to the customer.[00:25:59] So that was one area from a communications perspective that I thought was, very interesting. The third one is really empowering the store associates and, and today there's many companies that provide communication devices. for example, there's a company called Theatro that does a headset based communication device for store associates.[00:26:20] yeah, [00:26:23] Ricardo: love their solution.. [00:26:25] Shish: Turnpike turnpike is out of Sweden and they have, , a, wearable. DASSI wristwatches that send information over to the store associates and it's generally far more discrete, , and store associates can actually use those communication devices to talk to systems in the back [00:26:42] end.[00:26:42] So if they have a question about, do we have a certain product in stock right now? They can ask a chat bot the chat bot will look up the systems instantaneously and be able to get the responses. And this again, I think is another thing that's really transforming the frontline worker, in a way, making them far more efficient , with tools like this.[00:27:03] Jeff: Yep. Hang on, hang on a sec. Let me follow up on that question. Are you doing anything with voice, voice AI? [00:27:10] Shish: Yes. there is, a lot of, I would say controversy around voice. So in terms of voice, for store associates, the one scenario that I talked about last was one where store associates are actually using the headsets to talk to a chat bot.[00:27:27] So if a customer is looking for a certain product, typically what they would do is radio someone in the back room to say, do we have that in the back room? Or is it an order or something like that. But, in this situation they're actually using voice [00:27:42] to talk to a chat bot that is connecting to backend systems to determine if something is in the backroom.[00:27:48] If it does an order, if it's in a nearby store and it is providing the response by voice immediately to the store associate. And that to me is extremely powerful, where the store associates are empowered, but all that information that they using voice queries to query back end systems. [00:28:05] Jeff: How about sentiment or, sense of, either happiness or urgency in the invoice. I'm actually going to be talking to a couple of startups that are actually going to that level of sophistication.[00:28:16] Shish: So, , in call center, there is, I've seen situations where, when, someone calls a call center and the operators talking to that person, there is AI models that the chat bot that it was talking about earlier, that it's, transcribing the call looking at the intent of the questions. At the same time, it is also detecting the sentiment, of each speaker. So if there is, frustration, for example, it'll detect that and it will [00:28:42] notify the call center supervisor that here's the call where there's potentially a problem, and you want to listen to what you want to intervene. So it's actually detecting all of that.[00:28:52] Jeff: Yeah. Interesting.[00:28:53] Brandon: We also need to consider the human element of the organization, the frontline associates, or our ambassadors, how we want to refer to them. The stylist interacting with the customer technology are all referencing it innovative is right up there and on trend and having this be powered by AI AR , virtual reality or critical components of driving personalization, seamless, intuitive, and we're driving adoption rate by the store associates of stylists and the way.[00:29:25] Their ability to effectively serve the customer and effectively providing outstanding customer experience in store and connect that digital aspect of it as well. And help drive conversion as customers come to the store for advice or engagement or a building connection to the brand.[00:29:41] Ricardo: Yeah, [00:29:42] there's an interesting element there I'm reminded of one retailer I talked to a few years back who was deploying devices just as we're talking about and some of the feedback they had from their associates in the pilot stores, is that they were starting to feel like Batman wearing a utility belt because they were being asked to carry all this technology everywhere they went around the store. That tells us there's a threshold somewhere where it becomes too cumbersome to just hand over technology to the associates that way. I think that's a consideration, Brandon, maybe that's what you're getting at as far as paying attention to the human component of this, you can't just ask a store associate to say, here's three devices you need to carry around all day to do these three different tasks. Or there has to be a little bit more thought behind how transparent the technology is and how seamlessly it can be incorporated into their workflow in a way that makes sense. [00:30:28] Brandon: Correct. And we see companies do clienteling and then trying to streamline it to one app or one ipad or mobile first and it's worked for most situations, but again, it has to be connected to the [00:30:42] customer, empowering the store associates and driving outstanding customer experience.[00:30:46] Then I'd love to hear Ron's perspective on that. How technology can help the store associates drive a outstanding customer experience. [00:30:52] Ron: Yeah, no, thanks, Brandon. And you're exactly right. And I think the experience that is most, I think, recognized and celebrated by the customer is, how much history you have to the idea of in clientelling, which, the facts show that the average spend is that much higher.[00:31:10] The retention rate is higher. The return rate is lower. Like the benefits are enormous, but if you can say to someone, oh my gosh, like, let me. Quickly look at your purchase history on my phone, on my iPad that I have in my hand. Wow. It looks like you were here last month and this is what you bought. I have some things I know you're going to love.[00:31:28] And so you begin this relationship building with facts and with information that arms you to provide an exceptional experience. And so the technology kind of in your pocket provides you [00:31:42] information and then you can go and then, the client is entirely engaged because they, feel seen and heard.[00:31:49] They know that their business is appreciated. You can say that kind of along the way. I'm so glad that you came back. I'd really love to help you build on those wardrobe pieces or add that, that other. You know, the technology piece too. your last purchase here at apple. So there's, there's a lot that can happen with technology that just supports relationship building and all of the data in how that benefits an overall company is all positive.[00:32:15] There's no downside to it when done well, other than overwhelming at the store team. And that's where I think you can dial back and say, well, actually who's really good at this let's arm them. This person actually is much better just converting on the sales floor. Doesn't need to have the full deck in front of them.[00:32:34] So I think great leaders can look at that. I do at my own using hero in chat functions and who does confinements, who [00:32:42] converts, who sells more? You can dial in, and it's not one size fits all. And that's where people really, that retention piece starts to escalate because you would say thank you for recognizing that I'm actually not comfortable using this technology, but I'm really good doing this.[00:33:00] Let me do this more. That's a winning formula to retaining your team, building great client relationships and growing your business. But , that's where I put a lot of effort and time today. And, I believe that it really pays off. [00:33:14] Ricardo: That's not even advice specific to retailers organization, but many businesses adopt that approach and, let's call it company culture around how to encourage certain behaviors and how to reward people who are doing the job the best way they can. And also to create an environment that promotes this, the ability to do better and do more, whether it's with technology or without, or is that really, isn't the point, right?[00:33:39] This comes back to your earlier point Ron, about more [00:33:42] specialization and segmentation and the skills and the roles within the store. [00:33:46] All of this plays together into building that better company culture that fosters an environment that encourages this kind of activity and rewards people in these roles because they're filling a really important need for the retailer.[00:34:00] Ron: Yeah. I think that's where we had sometimes dug ourselves into our own trap of saying everyone needs to be good at everything. And then it'd be kind of to become a generalist as at all of it. And the customer's ability to remember their experience is diluted because no one really stood out in their mind, but we created that ourselves.[00:34:21] We created this kind of generic retail, you know, everyone's nice. Are you finding everything? Okay. And then you walk away and that, kind of generic version of retail, you know, Steve, Dennis likes to talk about Is what got us in trouble. And so that's where I'm saying it should not be generic. It should actually be very specialized.[00:34:41] We should hire [00:34:42] people with specialty, and invest in them and be better at what you hired them to do. And those are the people when you see NPS surveys that mention people by name, and I see it every day, you don't go home and write a survey about your experience and reference people's names. If you didn't have an experience that created, it's not through a business card in your shopping bag, you remembered their name because you were so engaged.[00:35:08] That's what happens when you invest in them. And then they deliver that to the customer. And it's like this winning cycle. But not everyone plays that game. And that, is so much fun because you see it in your business. And that's what we're all trying to reestablish today in our industry. [00:35:24] Ricardo: That is so well said, Ron, it's all about embracing the uniqueness and the skill sets that you're bringing into the environment and to the team and encouraging more of that to make the entire team better and ultimately that's reflected in the revenue that you're going to generate through that team, because they're such a [00:35:42] critical part of that process. [00:35:44] Question from Jeff Brand[00:35:44] Ricardo: I, I've, brought a few more folks up on stage so I'm Jeff, I'm going to go to you next , what was your comment for us? [00:35:50] Jeff Brand: Yeah, thank you. I'm an owner of a brick and mortar retail buildings. I'm a landlord, but I'm also a consumer and something that Trevor said, which was interesting to me is that his goal is to create engaging content for consumers that would draw them into the store, but giving them a lot of information to really engage them.[00:36:11] So what I wanted to find out about frontline workers, how do you make sure that the frontline worker knows more than the consumer does when they walk in the store? Because the consumer has the ability to research ad nauseum about the products they're going to shop for. [00:36:28] Trevor: I think that's a great question. I think about that often, right. 70% of shoppers think that they know more than the sales associates, because they have access to that very data. so I think there, are a couple of different ways to think through this. One is, making sure you've got all the [00:36:42] learning management systems for your sales associates, but the other way to think about it is to really think through proprietary tools that walk you through the category.[00:36:51] Most of this content out there is product by product. And what I'm seeing a lot of is digital tools that are being deployed in store and online to do a needs analysis and walk you through the category. I'll give you an example. If I'm buying a drill at home Depot, you got all the drills on the shelf.[00:37:09] But, I don't want to pick control, oh, this is this many Watts and this is that many Watts and great, well, what does that mean? , I don't know the difference between the wattage's . And , what will I be able to do or not be able to do what, walk me through, like, what do I need to strive for?[00:37:23] It's just like, Hey, Trevor just needs to make sure not to call the handyman too much, you know? And, and to look good in front of his wife, that he can fix some things or Trevor, you're really into home improvement projects to do a lot of serious work. And so, thinking through a category type tour and a needs [00:37:42] analysis and providing some of these proprietary tools, I think we'll create a type of guided experience that ends up lending itself in a differentiated way to what you can find out.[00:37:50] Jeff: And I also think we're really getting to , a paradigm where we shouldn't expect store associates to know more than customers coming in. If it's a passionate purchase. When I bought my kayak, I knew probably more about that. I guarantee you, I knew more about that kayak that I settled on, than the REI associates, because I researched it.[00:38:07] I spent days researching it. And so I think, we're sort of at that point where retailers just have to be comfortable with, sort of that, that maybe shift in knowledge and, accelerate and work with that and not necessarily try to fight against it.[00:38:19] Jeff Brand: That's very interesting. Thank you.[00:38:21] Ron: Yeah. And, I think apple again, does a really nice job of putting so much effort into training and yes, clients come in all day. And I remember when I joined apple as a store manager, The launch of iPhone two, and I was really nervous about, I don't know how this is going to work.[00:38:40] And [00:38:42] the calming kind of words are, they, customers will always know more than you do about the product. People are obsessed with this brand, but to say, you know what? I don't know, but I'm going to find out I'm going to help you learn how to use this. I'm going to find someone who's an expert in this particular skill of what you're looking for.[00:39:01] And if you can say, you know what, I don't have any idea how to do that, but I'm going to find someone that does, can calm it down. And the customer's like great, happy to make that happen. So I also think we don't always want to put so much pressure on ourselves. Everyone at every store has to be an expert in everything it's not realistic, but we can just drill down and think about expertise and putting the right people with the right customers for that specific ask that applies in all of our businesses, including, fashion for me. And I love this idea of it. Every experience should be unique and individual based on what the customer came in looking for.[00:39:41] Ricardo: [00:39:42] Yeah. I agree with that absolutely critical to deliver a great service that you want to have in your store. So Jeff, thank you for that question. [00:39:50] Question from Tim Tang[00:39:50] Ricardo: Tim, do you have a comment or question for us? [00:39:52] Tim Tang: Yeah, the question I wanted to ask you was, when we think about retail and we think about employment, frontline workers in retail, there's an enormously high turnover rate, as well as, some studies suggest, suggested very low engagement rate.[00:40:06] And I was wondering if you were aware of any progress or any meaningful innovations or any changes, in recent years on those two fronts.[00:40:15] Ron: Hi Tim. To answer your question on, on evolutions of the, great part about some of the technology that we're talking about, that there are ways to survey teams more quickly. So there's, apps like butterfly that where you can, you're in constant contact of how, how are you feeling today?[00:40:34] Kind of on a, on a scale of different faces or on numbers. How are let's check in with you about how [00:40:42] you're feeling, which is a really important, component to emotional leadership today, emotional intelligence. So you're, kind of constant checking in and, feeling connected, but I think , more importantly than anything that the quality and the intent of retail leadership today at the store level specifically, but at the multi-store space that all of us today in any kind of retail leadership that touches store teams and has influence on that experience, it is really our responsibility to do that in a way that is more emotionally, engaged than ever before.[00:41:20] And I think the idea of store visits that are checklist of numbers and. Store operations and audits and things that seem very tactical are really a thing of the past. And today I just, I was in stores all week. And what I did was spend time on the floor, talking to the teams, engaging with customers side by [00:41:42] side, learning how they're, how they feel learning, how they're experiencing the math challenge of week two and what it all means.[00:41:52] And that actually goes a really long way to engaging with those teams and say, I really appreciate that. Ron spent the day on the floor with selling with us today, and [00:42:01] I was able to ask questions and I was able to get solutions and hear what's happening at the company today. We just have to be closer than we've ever been before to what's really happening face-to-face with the customer and we have to listen and learn and act and engage and be curious more than ever before. And that's, that's what will change our industry. And that's how teams are repaying. And you, you learn, I come back to the office today with armed, with so much information about spending the week on the sales floor and about how people really feel.[00:42:37] And I can pretty much guarantee that those people I engage with [00:42:42] are happy that someone listened to them this week. I hope that answers your question.[00:42:48] Tim Tang: I think that's an interesting perspective, I mean that it's, if I'm hearing you correctly, it's the idea of using that customer feedback. That's kind of a motivator for the employees and you mean something to be celebrated, something to be highlighted, but it's, that kind of, positive feedback to get encouraged more out of the employee base.[00:43:06] Ron: Yeah. I actually think the employee feedback is more important than customer feedback sometimes. So that's the first thing that I would ask is how do you feel, how was your experience working here right now? How you feel having the math conversation it's uncomfortable. Let's do this together so that you can feel more comfortable when someone comes in and, wants to have a more difficult conversation.[00:43:27] So their feedback about their experience as an employee drives the customer experience that drives the business. And that's, why I would talk about surveys or being really close to them. That's what's going to change the game [00:43:39] Brandon: That ties back, Ron [00:43:42] to outstanding employee experience, customer experience. And you, you can say once that the, this empowered customer who has access to data to other brands and social media channels picked up once at the head of them and really personalize things.[00:44:05] Ricardo: That's a pretty impressive approach. And I say that Ron because listening to you describe how you've gone and collected that feedback on the floor reminds me of many retailer conversations that I had in years past and Tim may even remember some of these as in full disclosure for the audience, here Tim, and I used to work together.[00:44:26] And he may remember that being in some retailer meetings where we would ask them the question. When was the last time you were walked your store floor and understood both your customer and employee experience? And there, I think too many times that I remember being met with blank faces, when asking that [00:44:42] question?[00:44:42] And I always thought to myself, wondering how could they not have had a response for that? How could we be in a room full of retail executives that didn't have an immediate answer as to not only when was the last time they did this, what kind of feedback did they get? I would expect this is something you should know, because you're not going to be able to improve on your associates environment.[00:45:01] You're not going to be able to improve on that customer experience without ongoing feedback. And I don't think it's sufficient to claim that the feedback process could just be asking customers to fill out a response form and an email post-transaction or asking employees to do the same thing at the end of their Workday.[00:45:19] So please go in and fill out this survey form, but tell us how the day went. You really want to get that direct one-on-one feedback to really understand exactly how things are going. [00:45:29] Ron: And I would just add the store teams know that. And when decisions are made in the C-suite by people who have not spent time in stores and it impacts them, that's where [00:45:42] the problem lies is in the turnover happens because the responses will, did they not understand what we do every day? How hard this is the conversations that we have to have, and the workload that happens every day in brick and mortar stores. There's an assumption that people that sit in our leadership chairs don't understand that. And if you can demonstrate your at least willingness to show up and listen, you may not be able to solve every problem. If you use just show up and you say hello, I went to Greenwich the other day and some new team members.[00:46:14] And just to be able to sit in the morning, have a coffee, listen, where did you work before? I'll like, that will keep them going for months. And it was very little effort on my part and a huge return. And that's what all of us in leadership, we have to do that more. And particularly today, they're in a very difficult situation of being customer engaging.[00:46:37] Not only last year, it's still hard today. And that's why I just [00:46:42] encourage everyone be as close as you can, to the people doing the work technology aside. The human conversation goes a really long way. [00:46:49] Shish: Yeah. That's the great point also from the employee perspective, one of the things I'm looking at is, stores are putting more emphasis on customer engagement and employee spending more time with customers versus doing mundane jobs. And that's another transformation I'm seeing where automation comes in.[00:47:09] A very common example that I'm seeing in terms of automation is, on-shelf availability where almost every retailer is. Automating that in the past, it was, employees going round and making sure that the products are on shelf. And today they're looking at cameras and sensors to do that job so that the store associates can spend that time engaging with customers rather than doing that.[00:47:35] Ricardo: Yeah, that is absolutely an interesting point. And we could probably another room just on that topic alone and [00:47:42] going through the reality versus perceptions, right, automation, AI, and machine learning. What does that mean for other jobs? Whether we're talking about frontline staff or other roles within a retail organization, where's the balance you can draw between those areas.[00:48:00] So thanks Tim . That was a great, topic to touch on.[00:48:02] Question from Jeff Sward[00:48:02] Ricardo: Jeff, What was your question or comment for us and welcome to the stage. [00:48:06] Jeff Sward: Actually, the last conversation is going to be a perfect segue for my question, which is how does the frontline associates become, more useful, I guess, in helping the whole company understand the why of best sellers and worst sellers. Ron was describing these great interactions between sellers and customers that are data-driven about past history and prior purchases. So when the customer buys something, the system captures all the hard information, but it doesn't capture is the [00:48:42] why, why was something that bestseller, why was something a worst seller. Nobody sets out and puts worst sellers in the stores to begin with. So what happens? [00:48:53] Brandon: It's a great question. And I think that that's where it'd be social selling aspect comes in, that the sentiments could be the emotional multisensory sentiments through Instagram and Twitter and other feedback loop that retailers will receive from the customers. And it's not captured within the transactional systems, ERP systems, et cetera, social commerce, digital marketing is where that system lies.[00:49:18] So I think it's a very complex challenge to capture all the emotional sentiment, but that might be a place to start.[00:49:24] Shish: I totally agree. I think it's a data challenge. Many of the retailers that I work with, look at the other influencing data factors that will tell them why something a best seller. And this could be anything from the demographics around the store and the correlation of a certain [00:49:42] product or plan with that demographic, being the cause, it could be something going viral on the internet.[00:49:49] It could be other factors and influences that make something a best seller. And a lot of times is the inference models that they build from the combinations of data. And that typically is one of the approaches that many retailers use. [00:50:05] Ron: Yeah. And it's Ron. I would just add, I think again, Jeff, the more we can engage with the sales teams that are selling the product the better. So there's definitely feedback that can come through customers on social, or maybe it's live selling and you can capture information via chat.[00:50:22] There's a lot of ways to learn, but my office that's right out in front of, the design team for our own private label at intermix. And, you know, I spend a lot of time with them about this is what I've seen. This is what I've heard. Let's bring a team of New York stylist to the office and give you feedback from sketch review.[00:50:41] Like I [00:50:42] I'm, we're doing walkthroughs on sketches before they even become samples before fit before production. Like we stayed so close to it every step of the way so that we try to minimize the risks and the misses. I recognize that that's a small business compared to many people on this phone, but it's important that at every and every part that we've listened and we've learned and we've acted accordingly. , and I think the benefit from that is enormous.[00:51:11] Jeff Sward: Great, thanks, Ron. [00:51:12] Ricardo: Thanks, Jeff. For that question - good discussion topic, [00:51:16] Question from Amanda Fetch[00:51:16] Ricardo: Amanda, what is your question or comment for us? [00:51:19] Amanda Fetch: Yeah. Hello, thank you so much for the opportunity to join the stage. I know that the wave of the future has been to the point of the topic of the room, the future of frontline staff and how that's been sort of disappearing. We had, for example, Amazon Go in Rock Center where there is nobody to basically check you out. And, how now we have tech companies pivoting off of Amazon, like Facebook, [00:51:42] who is looking to have the live shopping Fridays and things like that.[00:51:45] Where again, it's not totally eliminating what we want to call a checkout. There's a human being involved, but again, it's online. So you still have the tech aspects, but so what I wanted to present to the panel and hear your thoughts on is what about, the customer of, for example, a Lulu lemon where their core is assisting the customer, what they like to call was more educating their customer on the fabrics and on the brand of things of that nature.[00:52:10] So I'm curious to hear your thoughts on companies like that. As the world's going to this really tech and to the point of the room, you know, future front Line staff.[00:52:18] If they start disappearing, what happens to companies or retailers like Lulu lemon, will they survive if we start seeing less and less of these, how do you see companies like that weathering this sort of tech storm that's coming on the horizon there? [00:52:33] Ricardo: Thank you for bringing up this topic. Where are we headed in the reality of more automation versus human interaction the [00:52:42] way frontline staff operationally works in a store as well as interacts with customers, as well as what's the customer preference going to be.[00:52:49] If we think about our consumers and what they expect when they come to the store. I think a lot of this depends on what the brand relationship is with the consumer I would argue that, for a Lululemon there is a consumer expectation that when they come to the store, they know they can count on the staff there.[00:53:05] Would that same customer have a similar expectation if they knew that they were going to be greeted by some kind of AI or a bot or some other automated process instead of a human being, I don't know that that would meet the customer's satisfaction for a brand like Lululemon.[00:53:21] I think that becomes a differentiator. So while there could be a discussion in a board room at Lulu lemon that says. You know, is our labor costs getting too high? Do we need to balance our a rising labor costs with some form of automation to handle certain customer interactions? I think they're going to conclude that they can't just [00:53:42] ignore this aspect.[00:53:43] I think that the filter you can apply to this is to say, is the brand relationship purely transactional.[00:53:49] If it is, then chances are a lot of that relationship could be replaced with automation, and to the retailer that's probably a cost saving exercise at some level. If that relationship is not purely transactional, if it's really based on what I think everybody on the stage would define as a real brand relationship where there's an emotional connection for the customer.[00:54:10] I personally don't believe that those relationships can be easily replaced with automation in that way. I think it requires a person to be involved, and I think it's required from the customer's point of view, but would younger generations be more okay with the thought of being greeted by some form of AI or automation rather than a human being versus an older generation?[00:54:33] I don't know that I can predict. But I think that would just be another interesting way to look at. [00:54:38] Jeff: I love that question so much because, I get asked all the [00:54:42] time is, so what is retail doing? Literally they're doing everything at all all the same time. So when I start thinking about, the role of automation and AI, there's clearly going to be a very significant chunk of retail that is going to embrace that. And there's going to be clearly another chunk of retail that's not. It's going to be high touch, high experience. And the best example I can point to right now is in an in and out burger, in and out burger has always paid well above market rate for, for really fast food jobs. And people go there. Me included, literally go by far cheaper solutions and sit in pretty darn long lines because we want that experience.[00:55:16] And I love the fact that people like that experience. And I love the fact that a retailer has created an opportunity for fast food workers to actually become, real career opportunities and a whole lot of people that are going to be running companies in 10 or 15 or 20 years really got their start there under that training.[00:55:32] So the answer is, we're going to see it's going to be the future is going to be all of the above. The key thing is what do people want and what do people want from their [00:55:42] retail experience. That's also going to be the big driver. So if, if all of a sudden the next three or four years people say, you know, I like the human touch. I don't want to be greeted by an AI. Retailers will respond. I think there clearly will be a lot more automation and there's clearly going to be a lot more people involved.[00:55:58] Ron: I definitely agree with, Jeff. I think it will depend on the business, but I would say today where we sit in the way the client is behaving, that her expectation of engagement and the time spent in the store and the amount of energy that goes into these very human interactions has never been higher.[00:56:18] And that may be a surge of, having spent 18 months online and really craving that human interaction. But I don't think it's going to completely pendulum swing the other way. I think there will always be a need for great human engaged selling, educational, retail. And for me that, that the best version of that, not just [00:56:42] in luxury will be the ones that kind of set the bar for

Ron Thurston loves retail. And he's proud of it. Ron has led the retail teams for some of America's most prominent brands, inspired thousands of store employees, and traveled relentlessly across the country to sit and listen to what they have to say. From a part-time sales associate to a Vice President of Stores, Ron has put in the hard work that a retail career requires and wrote this book to share what he learned along the way. ​ In 2021, Ron was named one of the world's Top 100 most influential people in retail and is a featured keynote speaker, podcast guest, and in-demand industry expert. ​ Ron most recently led the retail organization for INTERMIX, sits on the board of directors for GOODWILL NY/NJ, and is an advisory board member and mentor for several retail technology brands.

Brian got the chance to sit down with Ron Thurston a New York based retail expert with more than 30 years of leading top consumer teams from Apple to Tory Burch to Intermix. But, it was only after a mind opening retreat with strangers that challenged Ron's vision of his legacy that set a series of actions in motion that led to the nation's first retail movement. Find out how he did it with Retail Pride. Action Steps to REWIRE: 1. COMMIT to your goal, no matter what! 2. CREATE an effective strategy! 3. ASK for help from your network! Check out https://RetailPride.com *Comment on @fashionrewired on Instagram about this episode for a chance to WIN a FREE copy of Retail Pride, by Ron Thurston! Episode Powered by: -The Phoenix Fashion Week Freelance Program – Hire an industry professional to build your brand for long term success email freelance@phoenixfashionweek.com to secure a fashion professional. -Digital Designer Bootcamp: Launch your fashion brand in 6-short weeks from the comfort of your home. Email bootcamp@phoenixfashionweek.com for application. Phoenix Fashion Week: The leading fashion industry event in the Southwest. Fashion. Education. Community. Follow and like our IG @FashionRewired & @PHXFashionWeek

U2 – “Alex Descends Into Hell for a Bottle of Milk / Korova 1”, 1991. Happy Mondays – “Loose Fit”, 1990. Soma – “The Day the Sun Stood Still”, 2001. Leaether Strip – “Battleground (KGB Slam Edit)”, 1990. yelworC – “Recall”, 1994. Cyber Axis – “A.I.Y.M.”, 1994. Biopsy – “Indifference”, 1997. Die Warzau – “Strike to the Body”, 1989. Notausgang – “Kim Future”, 2019. Intermix – “Cum and Get It”, 1992. She Past Away – “Ritüel (The Soft Moon Remix)”, 2020. 16volt – “The Enemy”, 2012. Mortiis – “Doppelganger”, 2016. Still Corners – “Midnight Drive”, 2013.

Jyothi Rao is the CEO of INTERMIX, a fashion brand for women. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Business and Marketing, Jyothi joined The Gap Inc., where she would spend 16 years of her career ascending its ranks, serving in different capacities, and handling various brands. In 2014, after working as the EVP GM of Glit, Jyothi returned to Gap to become the CEO of INTERMIX—then a Gap portfolio company—and led the organization's transformation into the leading omnichannel fashion boutique that it is known as today. Jyothi joins me today to discuss the power of culture in successfully growing a business. She shares her journey at The Gap and explains why INTERMIX became an independent company. She explains the value of staying with a company longer and why organizations should foster creativity and innovation. Jyothi also describes how she led the company through the height of COVID-19 and shares her advice for Entreprenistas who want to rebuild and reinvent their organization's culture. “The culture you build determines the talent that comes in and the talent that you keep. Talent and culture are the foundations of a successful business.” - Jyothi Rao This week on the Entreprenista Podcast: Jyothi's journey at The Gap Inc. The marriage of economics and fashion and Jyothi's early days at The Gap The advantages of joining a portfolio company The normalcy of job-hopping today and why people need to stay at a job longer What it was like to bring INTERMIX online for the first time The importance of building culture that fosters creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship Tips for anyone who wants to rebuild and shift an organization's culture Jyothi's interview process to assess if a candidate is a culture-fit Her day-to-day responsibilities as the CEO of INTERMIX Why INTERMIX decided to become an independent company How Jyothi led her team and managed business processes during the first few months of COVID-19 The advantages and challenges of remote-working What's next for INTERMIX Our Favorite Quotes: “Building upon a business over time and adding value to an organization is a skillset I encourage people to have.” - Jyothi Rao “Don't think of your career as a ladder but as a jungle gym. There's nothing wrong with taking a few sidesteps and lateral movements and pivoting, but you have to play the long game.” - Jyothi Rao “People feel that they need to always go up, up, and up. But the straight road is not the most exciting journey. Something that meanders a bit is much more exciting.” - Jyothi Rao Connect with Jyothi Rao: INTERMIX INTERMIX on LinkedIn INTERMIX on Instagram INTERMIX on Facebook INTERMIX on Twitter Jyothi Rao on LinkedIn Join the Entreprenista League! Hey Entreprenistas! We're launching the Entreprenista League, our very own members platform and community just for you! We listened to your feedback and the support you're looking for to start and build your business, and we're here to provide you with all of the resources you'll need! As part of the Entreprenista League, you'll have access to a private community of like-minded Entreprenistas who are making an impact in business every day. You'll find special discounts on business products and solutions, exclusive content, private events, and the opportunity to have your story featured on our website and social channels! Whether you're looking to scale your existing business and want to make the right connections, or you're thinking about finally taking the leap to launch your business, we're here to give you access to a community of women who will celebrate your every step, and with whom you can share the candid reality of building a business from scratch. Join the Entreprenista league today at entreprenista.com/join. We can't wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey! Free Virtual Event Series with Shopify Do you have an e-commerce business or are you thinking about launching one? We are excited to announce that we're launching a free virtual event series with Shopify to give small business owners the tools and motivation they need to get their e-commerce store up and running. By joining us at Entreprenista on Shopify, you will learn… How to launch your Shopify store The best tips for SEO Digital marketing strategies to grow your customer base Hear real case studies from successful entrepreneurs using Shopify And much, much more... The virtual events will be hosted by experts that range from marketing, sourcing, merchandising, shipping, and procurement to help you connect all of the dots to start a successful online business, Shopify is also giving entreprenistas a 30-day free trial to launch your online store. When you attend the events, you'll also be entered to win a free website store build valued at over $2,500! Head over to www.entreprenista.com/shopify to get your free trial and join the Entreprenista on Shopify community. Say “Hello!” To DigiCards™  Are you ready to take your virtual team meetings to the next level? Are you tired of yelling “You're on mute!” at your computer screen and letting the important points you were trying to make get lost? If you're tired of leading unproductive, distraction-filled team meetings, then it's time for you to say “Hello!” to DigiCards. Each pack of virtual meeting cards include 20 color-coded professional cards designed to streamline your meeting communications while allowing each meeting to create an opportunity for collaboration and fun. Say “Goodbye!” to waving your arms, being ignored, and frantically typing in the chat. Start your next virtual meeting with DigiCards - the virtual meeting cards for entreprenistas. To grab your deck of DigiCards and bring fun, engagement, and collaboration back into your team meetings, visit www.hellodigicards.com. Use the coupon code: Entreprenista10 to receive 10% off your first order. Become An Entreprenista! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Entreprenista Podcast - the most fun business meeting for female founders, by female founders. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Radio | GooglePlay Be sure to share your favorite episodes across social media to help us reach more amazing female founders, like you. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and for more exclusive content, tips, and insight, join the Entreprenistas Facebook group and visit the SocialFly website.

Jyothi Rao is the CEO of INTERMIX, a fashion brand for women. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Business and Marketing, Jyothi joined The Gap Inc., where she would spend 16 years of her career ascending its ranks, serving in different capacities, and handling various brands. In 2014, after working as the EVP GM of Glit, Jyothi returned to Gap to become the CEO of INTERMIX—then a Gap portfolio company—and led the organization's transformation into the leading omnichannel fashion boutique that it is known as today. Jyothi joins me today to discuss the power of culture in successfully growing a business. She shares her journey at The Gap and explains why INTERMIX became an independent company. She explains the value of staying with a company longer and why organizations should foster creativity and innovation. Jyothi also describes how she led the company through the height of COVID-19 and shares her advice for Entreprenistas who want to rebuild and reinvent their organization's culture. “The culture you build determines the talent that comes in and the talent that you keep. Talent and culture are the foundations of a successful business.” - Jyothi Rao This week on the Entreprenista Podcast: Jyothi's journey at The Gap Inc.The marriage of economics and fashion and Jyothi's early days at The GapThe advantages of joining a portfolio companyThe normalcy of job-hopping today and why people need to stay at a job longerWhat it was like to bring INTERMIX online for the first timeThe importance of building culture that fosters creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurshipTips for anyone who wants to rebuild and shift an organization's cultureJyothi's interview process to assess if a candidate is a culture-fitHer day-to-day responsibilities as the CEO of INTERMIXWhy INTERMIX decided to become an independent companyHow Jyothi led her team and managed business processes during the first few months of COVID-19The advantages and challenges of remote-workingWhat's next for INTERMIX Our Favorite Quotes: “Building upon a business over time and adding value to an organization is a skillset I encourage people to have.” - Jyothi Rao“Don't think of your career as a ladder but as a jungle gym. There's nothing wrong with taking a few sidesteps and lateral movements and pivoting, but you have to play the long game.” - Jyothi Rao“People feel that they need to always go up, up, and up. But the straight road is not the most exciting journey. Something that meanders a bit is much more exciting.” - Jyothi Rao Connect with Jyothi Rao: INTERMIXINTERMIX on LinkedInINTERMIX on InstagramINTERMIX on FacebookINTERMIX on TwitterJyothi Rao on LinkedIn Join the Entreprenista League! Hey Entreprenistas! We're launching the Entreprenista League, our very own members platform and community just for you! We listened to your feedback and the support you're looking for to start and build your business, and we're here to provide you with all of the resources you'll need! As part of the Entreprenista League, you'll have access to a private community of like-minded Entreprenistas who are making an impact in business every day. You'll find special discounts on business products and solutions, exclusive content, private events, and the opportunity to have your story featured on our website and social channels! Whether you're looking to scale your existing business and want to make the right connections, or you're thinking about finally taking the leap to launch your business, we're here to give you access to a community of women who will celebrate your every step,

Living in London throughout her teenage years, Jyothi Rao developed her keen interest in fashion.  She joined Gap after graduating college and was at the portfolio company for 16 years before serving as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Calvin Klein, then Executive Vice President and General Manager of Gilt.com, and eventually transitioning into her current role as CEO of fashion empire INTERMIX.  You're about to hear how Jyothi transformed the culture of the company to foster innovation and inspire growth, her learnings from the sale of INTERMIX, and where she thinks the future of work is headed.   Key takeaways this week:   Jyothi uncovers the advantages of adding value over time and playing the long game in your career   How to build a business in a sustainable way through culture that attracts the right talent   Her top interview questions and hiring tips to ensure you're gaining employees that will stick around   What constitutes an acquisition that makes sense for your business   Jyothi's sound advice in considering the sale of your company when the time comes   What's next for INTERMIX - Jyohti touches on the “purpose part” of their company, and how they're hoping to use their platform to go beyond fashion and amplify women's voices from every walk of life.   Connect with Jyothi on Linkedin: Jyothi Rao   Keep up with INTERMIX on their website: www.intermixonline.com     Follow INTERMIX on Instagram: @intermixonline

In case you missed Ron the first time around, I am bringing him back! Ron Thurston is the Former Vice President of Intermix, a top-selling Author of RETAIL PRIDE, and now founder of "Take Pride Today." Ron is joining me on this week's episode of the positive effect, and I can't wait. We will talk, leadership, retail, and everything PRIDE. Join me to learn how to take PRIDE in everything you do. HIT REMIND ME and, of course, SHARE with your retail network. hashtag#linkedinlive hashtag#learn hashtag#leadership hashtag#converationsthatmatter hashtag#retailpride hashtag#takepridetoday hashtag#retailu --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/april477/support

On this episode, we're joined by Ron Thurston, Best Selling Author of Retail Pride and Vice President of Stores at INTERMIX. With over 25 years of retail experience and building big brands such as Tory Burch, Apple, Saint Laurent, and Bonobos Ron shares a unique perspective about the importance of creating and celebrating pride in an industry that employs millions of people and drives a massive portion of our economy.  We talk about leadership lessons in any industry to create an environment of pride and joy at work and the personal human fulfillment experienced when individuals take pride in the work they do. Here is what you will learn in this episode: Three pillars of success that can help organizations create more humanness and sense of pride in the workplace and with their employees – leading with empathy, curiosity and listening with the intent to act, and focus. The importance of connection and experience and how the future of retail and other brick and mortar industries post-COVID will be impacted and elevated by putting the human experience first. The strong parallels between consumer experience and the employee experience through the expression of pride and passion. How pride and expression of pride will be increasingly important when hiring the right people and building great teams as we see a reemergence of direct human connection. How to create bottom-up cultures that drive momentum and ground swell of prideful and people-first cultures – even during hard financial times. Resources Referenced: Retail Pride Website Work with Ron Thurston: Website: Retail Community | Retail Pride Twitter: @rwthurston1 Instagram: @retailpride LinkedIn: Retail Pride You Tube Channel: RETAIL PRIDE with RON THURSTON --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/humanlypossible/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/humanlypossible/support

In recent years retail has gotten a bad rap - especially fashion retail.Too often stores have fallen into a slump, neglected by management's shift in attention to building up their e-commerce channels.  And just as often because brands have too many stores and too little revenue to maintain them all properly.That's led to a rash of retail closures in many key markets around the world.But is retail really fated to become just a memory of ‘the way we used to shop?'Or can the right people with a vision and the drive to bring it to fruition and rejuvenate retail into a dynamic place where today's consumers want to shop?I'm Jane Singer and welcome to A Seat at the Table.Today I'm speaking with Ron Thurston, retail expert and author, and a champion of physical retail.Ron is Vice President of stores for Intermix and has a decades long career of working with leading brands and driving retail excellence from visual merchandising to taking teams of diverse retail staff and helping them to be the best they can be.His enthusiasm for retail is contagious.  And he takes an industry that many people view as an ‘if all else fails' job and shows us the exciting career opportunities it offers for people of all different skills sets and education levels.  Retail is one industry that has almost no barriers to entry - and few limits on how high you can rise.Most importantly Ron talks about his vision for revitalising retail and provides a path that both large and small companies can easily follow.You can find Ron's book, Retail Pride, on Amazon in paperback, hardcover or kindle versions.Before we get started, if you're overwhelmed by information and wish someone could sift and sort through it all and provided you with a tight summary of just what you need to know, then you might want to check out Inside Fashion's market snapshots. You can find more information at  insidefashionlive.net/snapshots.  

Today's guest is a super connector. Nothing makes her happier than connecting people who could mutually make each other's lives more enjoyable. She is the founder and chief networking officer of Six Degrees Society, a female-focused networking organization that handpicks who you meet while networking. It has been called one of “The Best NYC Networking Events If You Want To Find A New Job” by Refinery 29 and “Where To Meet Women Who Are As Obsessed With Their Career As You” by Girl Boss. In 2020, Six Degrees Society held over 80 events virtually and has an IRL presence in NYC, SF, LA and Chicago. They have partnered with brands such as Ann Taylor, Rebecca Taylor, Rebecca Minkoff, Kendra Scott, Vince, Theory, Velvet, and many more. As a business coach for solopreneurs, she has helped her clients launch their businesses, create communities, raise their prices, streamline their messaging, and cross the six figure mark. She has also built an event career in Special Events and Marketing at Ralph Lauren, Club Monaco, Tory Burch, and INTERMIX. If you like what you hear today, tune into her podcast The Sixth Degree. Please join me in welcoming Emily Merrell.   In this episode we discuss: her thoughts on leadership: “Leaders are people who can go past their own doubts and are able to stand up for others.” her desire to learn and hear the stories of adults when she was a child. her experience and thoughts with having au pairs growing up. her experience moving to Argentina after college and networking while living there for 9 months. her desire to be uncomfortable and building a connection from scratch. the very first networking event that launched the entrepreneurial bug in her heart. her strategy for matching people at events. her conflict of charging for her virtual events. her strategy of nurturing her networks. Listen, subscribe and read show notes at www.OnTheSchmooze.com - episode 217.

Sydney Sadick is a TV correspondent and writer concentrating on fashion and celebrity. She has interviewed some of the world's most coveted celebrities, designers, politicians, and stylists, in addition to covering New York Fashion Week, the Met Ball, the CFDA awards and other top events. She's a retail ambassador for many popular brands, hosting events for Schutz, De Beers, Furla, Intermix, and more. Equipped with a strong educational foundation in journalism at George Washington University's school of media and public affairs and a deep-rooted connection to the Fashion industry, Sydney delivers unparalleled expertise and style savvy to every facet of correspondence. From editorial coverage, celebrity interviews and live broadcast reporting to hosting consumer facing events, Sydney's ability to generate buzz and make fashion accessible to the masses is enhanced by her vibrant, fearless personality and loyal following. Featuring special guest Sydney Sadick Hosted by Amanda Kopelman, Naomi Porter, Serena Ingram, and Roshni Patel --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

I had the pleasure of interviewing Lara Jade, a world renowned award winning fashion photographer. Not only is she an amazing photographer, seriously.... check out her work. She's also a really strong business woman and has created a course packed with amazing how-to's regarding running a fashion photography business. We talk about how she learned to hustle to make it, and CONTINUE to get work. Enjoy! Here's a bit more about Lara: Lara enjoys creating timeless and emotive imagery and is inspired by feminine strength, unique beauty and classic style. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband James and regularly travels for assignments, working between NY, LA and London. Some of her clients include, but are not limited to: Air France, Avon, Alice & Olivia, Blue Nile, Danielle Frankel, Dorothy Perkins, G Collins & Sons, Innisfree, Intermix, Mary Kay, Monique Lhuillier, Sotheby's, Sachin & Babi, Lela Rose, Monsoon, Reem Acra, The Jewelry Group, Wella. She's also ben published in ; Vogue Taiwan, Vogue Japan, Vogue Japan Wedding, Harper's Bazaar UK, Harper's Bazaar US, Harper's Bazaar Kazakhstan, InStyle, Interview Magazine, Grazia Italy, L'Officiel Ukraine, Modern Luxury, Mojeh, Rollacoaster Magazine, Stella Magazine, Tatler Hong Kong, Town & Country UK. Check out Lara's amazing education courses here: The Fashion Series www.thefashionseries.com The Business Of Fashion Photography www.larajadebusiness.com https://www.instagram.com/larajadephotography/