The co-lab career stories

Introducing Alex Schneider, a seasoned wholesale and planning executive from the fashion industry. With a track record of success at iconic brands like Casper, Canada Goose, and Marc Jacobs Intl., Alex has mastered the art of strategic planning and sales operations. Her innovative approach and collaborative leadership style have propelled her to exceed revenue targets and consistently optimize pro...

Erik Jørgensen is a sales and retail strategy consultant building successful retail and wholesale businesses in the fashion and outdoor space. Passionate about helping emerging brands get their foothold in one of the most complex markets, Erik is helping build the future of fashion. On this episode, Erik talks with Alex Schneider about the benefits and pitfalls he's experienced moving from the...

Mitali Banerjee is a strategic marketing and business advisor who has created a niche by leading 'firsts' (product launches, brand extensions, audience test and learns, new practice setups etc.) for iconic brands. She drives business impact for her clients by guiding brands that need to lead and pivot quickly, thoughtfully, and efficiently. Her leadership has led to the successful executio...

From startup hustler to Fortune 500 trailblazer, Elizabeth Powers brings an unrivaled passion for transformational communications, intelligence, and AI. Over 15 years, she pioneered disruptive strategies that bridged divides between leadership and employees. Her innovative data and use of emotional intelligence training fuels outreach that resonates with modern stakeholders. Elizabeth continues br...

Originally from Seattle, WA, Danielle Nielsen moved to NYC after breaking into the beauty industry, despite her non-traditional background. With her passion for all things beauty and writing, Danielle is an SEO Copywriter at Front Row, in the Marketplace Partnership division, writing copy for some well-known brands such as Summer Fridays, Glow Recipe, Saie Beauty and more. In her spare time, she e...

Cassandra Hoblitz is a Client Strategy Lead at Front Row group in New York City. Cassandra is passionate about beauty, design and sustainability. She’s led creative and branding projects for brands like WYN Beauty by Serena Williams, Josie Maran, Beautyblender and K18. This episode was recorded in April and references the launch of Wyn Beauty by Serena Williams, which is now available at Ulta. On...

Jonathan Bunten, a seasoned entrepreneur, and CEO of RecorGroup, brings over two decades of leadership across finance, trade marketing, and sales in the beauty and consumer goods sectors, along with a profound commitment to personal and professional growth.  Having navigated substantial challenges and transformative experiences, he now focuses on empowering high-achieving professionals and teams t...

Syama Bunten CEO of Scaling Retail and Host of Getting Rich Together, an expander podcast for women on money and wealth. For over a decade at she's been working with first time founders as a Co-CEO to launch scalable businesses. Prior to, Syama worked at Barneys New York, and Gucci building intrapreneurial divisions. Syama's won a number of awards including 2023 Positive Leadership Award f...

Ann Tham is a retail strategist obsessed with building smart, scalable and profitable brands.  As a teenager, you would find Ann at the mall every week checking out the latest fashions and design inspirations from her favorite brands.  Ann parlayed this obsession into a 20 year career at some of the most notable American brands – Ralph Lauren, Levi’s Strauss, Old Navy, Maidenform, and even taking...

For more than 20 years, Sam Zebian has stewarded iconic brands as a marketer inside world-class organizations and agencies including Nike, Disney and CAA. From her earliest days as a talent agent to her work as an executive and consultant, she’s brought a strategic approach and a curiosity to each challenge. She’s especially skilled at reinventing heritage brands and driving them deeper into cultu...

Andrew Minosh Pieris's story starts in the lush landscapes of Sri Lanka, where the vibrant culture and architecture sparked his creative passion. Moving to London as a teen, he interned with Alexander McQueen, and other names such as Jonathan Saunders, John Rocha, KTZ. He immersed himself in the fashion world from the age of fifteen. His journey led him to visual merchandising and design, wher...

Originally from Albuquerque, NM, Thomas is an accomplished Visual Merchandising professional with over 2 decades experience across diverse retail channels from small boutiques to world-renowned luxury department stores.  As the son of two talented jewelry designers, he learned the value and beauty of craftsmanship at an early age and explored photography and architecture in college. After moving t...

Lisa Di Napoli sees the world in vivid color, has never met a color swatch that did not inspire, and loves curating visual stories. All this has served her well as a design leader and children’s industry expert. Her vision has brought to life children’s collections for over two decades, starting with H.M. Woggle Bug, a luxury line Di Napoli founded and ran, then parlaying those skills into multi-m...

Céleste is an insatiably curious lifelong learner passionate about community, partnership, provenance, ethics, sustainability, and timeless style. Through stories, she delights in making the complex simple. Her first job (not including babysitting and waitressing) was as the receptionist at Chanel HQ in Paris. It ignited Céleste’s love affair with product and fashion while elevating her commitment...

Crystal Slattery serves as the President of Tanya Taylor and plays a pivotal role in driving the brand’s success. With a strong background in business strategy from her years as President of Elizabeth and James and Cinq a Sept, Crystal is responsible for leading business operations and strategy for the Tanya Taylor brand. On this episode, she talks with Tanya Taylor about the role she sees technol...

Tanya serves as CEO and Creative Director of her namesake brand. Playing with color and texture, Tanya uses her artistic background to create clothing for women to move creatively and confidently through their day. Tanya Taylor’s collections are available at major retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Shopbop and Neiman Marcus, as well as on http://TanyaTaylor.com and at her Upper East Side bouti...

Jen White is a branding expert that guides companies beyond surface-level branding to build mindshare and capture market share. She combines her background in fine art, expertise in consumer branding, and 20+ years of entrepreneurial experience to shepherd brands to their most powerful market potential. She has worked with both public and private organizations across CPG and beauty including: Seed...

Sam Baker transforms underperforming ecommerce sites into powerful selling tools that help her clients generate double-digit incremental revenue each year. Sam’s ecommerce background includes web optimization at Abercrombie & Fitch, digital marketing at Vera Bradley and consulting clients such as Under Armour and Intercontinental Hotel Group. Her consultancy specializes in A/B Testing, UX impr...

Lydia Fenet  is the founder and CEO of the Lydia Fenet Agency, a boutique agency representing best in class charity auctioneers. Over her two-decade long career, Lydia served as the Global Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships for Christie’s and reshaped the fundraising landscape as the world’s leading charity auctioneer, single handedly raising over one billion dollars for more than 800 org...

Katelyn Delaney is an empowering executive product marketer and global beauty brand builder with successful experience leading product innovation and strategy, collaborating on effective go-to-market campaigns, and developing impactful 360 multi-channel marketing programs to accelerate growth across color and fragrance categories. On this episode, Katelyn speaks with Lydia Fenet about how importan...

Kátia Sarti is a highly experienced digital marketing and e-commerce professional with over 15 years of experience successfully growing retail brands through innovative and integrated digital marketing strategies. She has led performance marketing for the likes of  1-800-flowers.com  and Clinique and is currently the Head of Consumer Marketing for Priority Pass in the Americas. Her professional ar...

Loree Lash-Valencia is a distinguished executive with over 20 years of experience in global sales leadership and strategic partnerships, known for her expertise in business development, revenue generation, and marketing. She has a proven track record of generating over $100 million in new revenue and has been instrumental in various roles with major brands like Fila, BCBG, WGSN, and JOOR. Loree ex...

From being the face of a brand to creating a brand, there's not much that Jay hasn't done or can't do in the world of fashion. On this episode, Jay speaks with Andrew Staunton about the meaning of the words resilience and agility in making a career in fashion.

Designer director with 2 decades of experience leading international brands across genders and categories. Experience building businesses in established brands and launching new product lines from scratch. Masters graduate focusing on project management methods and their application to successful design development. On this episode, Andrew talks with Jay Anderson about keeping up hope and resilien...

Michelle is originally from Los Angeles and has been living in France since 2021. After 5 years of professional experience in office management she came to Paris to earn her Masters in Communications with a concentration on sustainable development. Michelle is currently working on creating content around her areas of research into cultural sustainability and material impact while simultaneously na...