Serious and Sometimes Comic Musings on the Future of Retail
Ace Hardware Chief Marketing Officer Kim Lefko and Anne Mezzenga sit down to talk about Kim’s career in retail in the latest edition of the Omni Talk exclusive, Women’s Retail Collective podcast series.
Karyn Schoenbart joins Anne Mezzenga to discuss her career, both as CEO of NPD Group and as author of the book MOM.B.A. This podcast is full of great advice, as Karyn shares some incredible lessons learned, including how a lateral move can actually propel your career forward, how to fight imposter syndrome, and how you can never go wrong asking someone “What can I do for you?”
Anne Mezzenga sits down with Vitamin Shoppe CEO Sharon Leite for a special edition of the Women’s Retail Collective Podcast from the Retail Innovation Conference.
When it comes to the evolution of the mall, Jill Renslow has seen it all.
Jill has spent 23 years at Mall of America leading the national institution through many transformations and partnerships to continue to make it a one-of-a-kind shopping and entertainment destination.
In this podcast, Jill shares with Anne Mezzenga a few of her most remarkable experiences along her journey, including how she and her team are tackling mall operations during a pandemic. They discuss what’s going to bring people to malls in the future and how Jill has sought out partnerships with everyone from Nickelodeon to neighborhood shop-in-shops to ensure Mall of America visitors have something new and delightful to capture their imaginations each and every time they visit.
Jill also shares what’s still left on her career bucket list and, of course, her A+ lineup for her own concert as well.
In her latest Women’s Retail Collective Podcast, Anne Mezzenga interviews Alison Hahn about her career and the lessons she has learned from working at some of the biggest specialty retailers in the world, like Sephora and Gap.
Alison shares her career story that began in the training program at Bamberger’s (which would become Macy’s New Jersey)and that eventually led to her current role at Sephora leading merchandising decisions for one of the largest beauty brands in the world. Anne and Alison also cover the impact the pandemic has had on the beauty industry and how Sephora has pivoted its strategies in response.
Alison also shares some great advice for those early in their merchandising and retail careers. “This job is a lot of balancing art and science, but a huge part of it is instinct,” she tell us.
There are so many lessons to be learned in this one, including Alison’s recipe for a perfect summer concert.
Anne Mezzenga sits down with Shelley Huff, EVP Direct-to-Consumer Serta/Simmons and CEO Tuft & Needle as part of her ongoing Women’s Retail Collective Podcast Series.
Monica & Andy CEO/Founder, Monica Royer joins Anne Mezzenga to discuss how she built a brand that started as the next “project” she and her brother, Bonobos founder, Andy Dunn, took on to the turning it into the family lifestyle brand that it is today. The daughter of an Indian immigrant, retail was not a career path Monica expected for herself or her brother, but hard work and hustle were in their DNA, and the idea for starting a guide shop model for shopping was too good not to jump on. Hear her entire career story, where she plans to take the Monica & Andy brand in the coming months, and of course, her ultimate concert lineup – there’s at least one band you’d never expect.
Anne Mezzenga sits down with the woman who created the line of button-down shirts loved and adored by many, including Angelina Jolie and Meghan Markle. Audrey has had quite the career and she shares it ALL in this podcast. She tells us how a call from Oprah resulted in launching her first, full e-commerce site in under 5 weeks to how she has taken her latest entrepreneur sucker punch, going from the top-selling brand at Anthropologie to having all orders for the remainder of the year canceled in a matter of weeks.
The daughter of entrepreneurs and engineers, Rachel Elias Wein worked her way up from her first job at E&Y to become founder and CEO of her own business, Wein Plus.
Rachel Wein developed Wein Plus to fill a void she saw early in her career — the need for strategic consulting for real estate developers and retail owner-operators. Rachel helps national retailers like Kroger and Publix develop and implement strategies for their future physical footprints, and she has helped to make Publix one of the largest shopping center owners in the country.
You’ll get the full story on that, Rachel’s entire career, and where she thinks the future of the retail and real estate industries are headed, all in this latest edition of the Women’s Retail Collective Podcast with Anne Mezzenga.
Laura Heller is not only an influential woman in the retail industry but as the former Editor for Retail Dive and many other industry publications, she has also been responsible for finding and telling the stories behind the rapid changes it’s seen. Laura started her career in trade magazines, writing on the grocery industry and all the greatest “Deli, Dairy, Bake” trade shows you never knew existed(you have to hear her story to believe it) and is now Director of Editorial Content for Publicis Health Media. In this podcast, you’ll hear Laura’s full career story and the advice she gives to everyone she mentors, from her former students at Columbia College to Chris and me about how to stay passionate about the work, the story, and the lives behind this evolving retail industry.
Maria Vogelei started Nook because she was looking for an escape for her and her toddler daughter. What she didn’t realize was that after partnering with Co-Founder Sy Yang, they’d create one of the most innovative and successful re-inventions of mall spaces.
Sy and Maria share how they’ve taken their concept from one Nook location in Arlignton, VA to four in just a couple of years, and how they keep the mission of being a refuge for parents and children a top priority as they experiment with new ways of doing retail and physical experiences.
Tune in to hear how these two executives created their very own careers in retail, and how they are changing the look and feel of future retail spaces one “warm vanilla shell” at a time.
Amanda Brinkman carries two very significant titles: Chief Brand and Communications Officer of Deluxe and Creator/Host of the Award-winning show, Small Business Revolution.
While she’s done tremendous work in both roles, it’s her coming-of-age story that you’ll really want to hear. She shares with us the secrets she believes have led to her success in these roles, and how her philosophy of “Doing well by doing good” has opened up opportunities she never thought possible.
We also go deep into the challenges Main Street and big-box retailers are facing in the age of Amazon and how Amanda’s team at Small Business Revolution is approaching the problem one season at a time.
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. Know More →
