The Nordy Pod

In this episode, we’re taking a closer look at the real business of our business, which is selling. There’s obviously a lot more that goes into making our company successful, but at the end of the day, what we do is sell stuff. And to help us better understand how we exercise and strengthen that skill, I’ve brought in our Vice President of Selling Programs at Nordstrom, Jessica Cloutier. You’ll al...

Most American shoppers may be unfamiliar with the name, but if you’ve spent any amount of time shopping cosmetics in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve walked through the doors of one of MECCA’s 110 locations. Essentially disrupting the paradigm of how retailing was done in the beauty industry in the late '90s, Jo Horgan started from scratch with a revolutionary ide...

In this episode, we’re going to be shining a light on one of our teams that is absolutely vital to our success as a business. Listen as I chat with Jim Gallagher, our vice president of Customer Care and Fraud at Nordstrom. After that, you’ll hear my conversation with Brandon Benedict, a talented member of our Executive Escalation team. These two—alongside many others on our Care team—field phone c...

No doubt you’ve heard of—or even shopped—the massively successful fashion brand founded by our guest, Tory Burch. But what is it about this trailblazing fashion designer that’s earned her a spot on Time magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World? From humble beginnings to global acclaim, Tory's journey is one of resilience, innovation and unwavering dedication to women in busi...

In this episode, we’re headed down to the San Francisco Bay Area to visit a few of our stores for a series of “State of the Company” meetings. Every year, our executive leaders travel across the country to host these town hall–style meetings to connect with our people and share some of our progress from last year and goals for the future. Additionally, each year, groups of Nordstrom stores compete...

In this episode, we’re diving deep into the world of Artificial Intelligence. We discuss some of the most exciting applications in our industry and demystify some concerns surrounding this emerging new technology. First, you’ll hear my conversation with two Nordstrom leaders who deal directly with the research and development of AI here at Nordstrom: our Chief Information and Technology Officer, J...

From a childhood dream, to a single traveling store, to over 60 retail locations nationwide, Faherty has certainly made a name for itself. It just so happens to be the family name. Twin brothers Mike and Alex Faherty, along with Alex’s wife Kerry, bootstrapped their coastal/urban/beachy clothing brand up from scratch by combining each of their unique superpowers. Mike, as Chief Creative Officer, u...

For this episode, I’m super excited to share my conversations with two really incredible people in the world of sports. First, you’ll hear a special live recording of my chat with the new athletic director at the University of Washington, Troy Dannen. We invited Troy to come speak in front of a group of our top executives because he’s had a lot of great experience managing large groups of people i...

In this episode, I’m super excited to share the stories of two incredibly talented women who, in their own way and through their own experiences and perspectives, are helping to evolve and improve the way we do business. First, you’ll hear from the founder and CEO of Harlem’s Fashion Row and Icon 360, Brandice Daniel. Through her work, Brandice is building bridges between designers of color and de...

In this episode we’re turning our attention to a couple of talented young men from very different circumstances, each at the beginning of their careers in two very different industries. What they have in common is that they’ve both been recipients of Nordstrom scholarships. We’ve created and supported several scholarship programs over the years. Some that are more community-based, like our newly a...

Nordstrom has had the great pleasure of participating in an organization called IGDS: The Intercontinental Group of Department Stores, which connects some of the biggest retailers across the globe to learn and grow from each other. Along the way, we’ve gained a lot of great relationships, one of which we’re excited to feature on the show today. Scott Fyfe is the current CEO of iconic Australian de...

In this episode we're sharing a special live recording of The Nordy Pod from on stage at a conference for the International Council of Shopping Centers. My guest: innovative retail mall developer and operator, Rick Caruso. Now, if you've ever actually visited any of Rick's properties, you've likely noticed that there's something different about them. Rick and his team at Caruso are extremely mindf...

To kick off the new year we thought it would be fun to take a little stroll down memory lane and look back at some of our favorite Nordy Pod moments from 2023. We've had a lot of fun making this thing and chatting with all the fascinating people that have agreed to come on the show. Fashion icons like Domenico De Sole, Anna Wintour and Will Welch, incredible fashion designers like Simone Rocha and...

Core to Nordstrom's values is our commitment to leaving the world better than we found it. We're proud to partner with a number of different organizations that help us do this. In 2023 we will donate over $12M to 350+ different charity organizations in communities we serve across the United States. So, in the spirit of the giving season, we're using this episode to highlight some of the folks invo...

In this episode, we're opening up a time capsule from the year 1998. Placed in the wall near our front entrance, it commemorates the grand re-opening of the new flagship store in downtown Seattle. That year would also hold another huge milestone moment for Nordstrom that would change the way we do business forever: the creation of Nordstrom.com. Listen as we dive deep into the origins of our digit...

In this episode we're on a bit of a field trip out to my alma mater, the University of Washington. We were invited here to the Foster School of Business by Dr. Marty Matthews who's a professor of marketing—and she also happens to be a Nordy Pod listener. She emailed me awhile back letting me know that she's actually been assigning Nordy Pod episodes as homework in a few of her classes. So, we thou...

Ben Gorham has had a particularly interesting journey to entrepreneurship. Having spent his entire young life pursuing a career in basketball, it may come as a surprise that he ended up creating a super successful luxury and fragrance brand. But Ben's ambitions to play basketball were stifled by a technicality in international contracts, cutting his professional career short. Then, by a chance mee...

In this episode, we're doubling down on my conversations with the Nordstrom Board of Directors to uncover more invaluable insights from this prestigious group of business leaders. In part one, we heard the unique backstories of each board member and followed their incredible career journeys to the point in which they were considered for the Nordstrom board. For part two, we're going to dig a littl...

In the next two episodes we’ll be taking a special in-depth look at a group of incredibly talented individuals with uniquely impressive professional backgrounds. What do all of these people have in common? They're all members of the Nordstrom Board of Directors. Stacy Brown-Philpot, Jim Donald, Mark Tritton, Kirsten Green, Brad Tilden, Amie Thuener O'Toole, Atticus Tysen, Glenda McNeal and Eric Sp...

In this episode we’re shining a light on one of our industry's most exciting events of the year, and that's London Fashion Week. We're kicking the show off by speaking with someone who knows a lot about this subject: Nordstrom Women's Designer Fashion and Editorial Director Rickie De Sole. Rickie then takes the helm and chats with Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council, about her role i...

For this episode Pete's taking the hot seat and fielding questions from The Nordy Pod editor, Nathan Shields, and co-producer, Kent Worthington. They discuss Pete's trajectory from stock boy to president, the likelihood of career detours, and important lessons in humility, authenticity, loyalty and hard work passed down directly from his father, Bruce Nordstrom. Pete also talks about the benefits...

If you follow professional basketball, chances are you've heard a booming broadcast by the incredible Kevin Calabro. And if you’ve been so lucky, then you know what a thrill ride it is listening to his exhilarating play-by-play. By his own admission, Kevin wants listeners to know that he's having fun on the mic, because that's what sport is all about! As a kid he remembers gaining an appreciation...

Through their investment firm, Imaginary Ventures, Nick Brown and Natalie Massenet have proven time and again the importance of their role in the consumer ecosystem. They understand better than most how difficult it can be to start a business from scratch, so they use their knowledge and resources to prop up promising young startups and get them moving in the right direction. And the status they'v...

For this episode we’re taking a special in-depth look at our biggest fashion event of the year, the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. Join me as I sit down with my brother Erik and cousin Jamie as we look back on its unique history and reminisce over our favorite Anniversary Sale memories. We’re also going to take a trip over to our store in Bellevue to catch a glimpse of their Early Access opening day....

On the surface you may think this episode is just another excuse for me to selfishly bring another famous athlete into my office to talk sports, and I guess that's part of it, but Doug Baldwin is so much more than just a successful football player. His incredible determination that would eventually win him a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in 2013 was a hard-fought character trait forged thro...