Retail Revolution

Meghan Houle shares her insights into the fashion industry recruiting and hiring process, especially within the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic. She provides tips on how to executive a successful job search, including advice on setting up a LinkedIn profile, creating your resume, preparing for an interview and following-up post-interview.

Meghan is a seasoned luxury retailer who turned a passion for people into a full-time recruiting role understanding the unique chemistry that makes a candidate a great fit for a brand. As she states, “I am in the business of building relationships.”

Meghan is the Senior Executive Recruiter at The Bowerman Group and has 20+ years’ experience working with fashion industry leading brands across North America and globally with a focus on Retail, Digital, Marketing, E-Commerce, Human Resources, Finance and Regional Account Sales. Meghan is a proven expert in matching the right candidate to the right company, working directly to influence hiring managers at all levels.

Learn more: LinkedIn | The Bowerman Group

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

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Timo Rissanen challenges listeners with innovative ways to think more sustainability about the fashion system, including design and retail. He focuses on the role that consumers play in this complex system and discusses the intrinsic connection between sustainability and social justice.

Timo is a newly appointed associate professor in fashion and textiles at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). During his decade at Parsons School of Design, he was associate professor of fashion design and sustainability within the School of Fashion. He also served as the School Associate Dean of the School of Constructed Environments, and he was one of the Associate Directors of the Tishman Environment and Design Center. He was born in Finland and trained as a fashion designer at the UTS in Australia. Rissanen completed a practice-based PhD on zero waste fashion design at UTS in 2013. As an artist he has focused on labour, politics and love through installation, performance and cross-stitched poetry. Rissanen co-curated Fashioning Now with Alison Gwilt in 2009 and Yield with Holly McQuillan in 2011, and he has co-published two books on fashion and sustainability, Shaping Sustainable Fashion with Gwilt in 2011 and Zero Waste Fashion Designwith McQuillan in 2016. Rissanen is a founding member of the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion.

Learn more: LinkedIn

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

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Vasumathi Soundararajan describes her role and ethos as a service and interaction designer, focused on how customers experience brands digitally and physically. She shares insight, as an entrepreneur, on growing a customer-centric business.

Vasumathi designs “the world we want to live in – one that propels us forward, one that works with & for us.” She currently workis as a Service and Interaction designer at Fjord, Accenture. 

Vasu is a human-interest storyteller and entrepreneur turned Experience Strategist and UX Designer who has successfully built, launched and scaled businesses. She is an Interdisciplinary designer and creative collaborator, adept at developing human-centered solutions. She is an empathetic detail-oriented problem solver, using design as a tool to drive change, growth and positive impact.

With the motto that “Life is too brief to wear boring underwear”, she launched a design-driven startup called Ken Wroy, that offers fun and comfortable underwear for men. Being a champion of sustainability, she passed the BCORP certification – achieving radical transparency in her supply chain.

She successfully led the business to acquisition.

Her design philosophy — Mono no aware (物の哀れ), is a Japanese term for ‘Being Aware of Impermanence,’ motivates her to empathize and experience to the fullest.

Learn more: LinkedIn

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Rattner discusses the science behind space design with a focus on how retailers can connect more organically and successfully with customers. He coins a new term, “retidential” design, a mash-up of retail and residential, to describe a movement towards more intimate, home-like retail spaces.

Donald is an architect who helps individuals and organizations optimize creative performance by applying scientific research to the design of physical space. He is widely published as both author and subject. His most recent book, My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation, 48 Science-based Techniques, received a Gold Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association, a Silver Medal in the Nautilus Book Awards, and a Semi-finalist in the Chanticleer Instruction and Insight Awards. He has also written for numerous print and online channels, including Work Design Magazine, Better Humans, The Writer’s Cooperative, ChildArt Magazine, Residential Architect, and assorted blogs. I have contributed entries to such books as Design Professionals and the Built Environment, and the International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture. His work has been featured on CNN, in such publications as The New York Times, Houzz, Architectural Digest, and Builder. You can also listen to previous podcast interview, including Killer Innovations, Love Your Work, the Small Business Radio Show, the PsychCentral Show, and Creative Warriors.

Learn more: LinkedIn | Donald Rattner | Amazon (book)

My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

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Dr, Guido Lang shares his insights on developing new ideas and bringing them to the market, especially in the technology space. He reinforces the idea that staying focused on solving one particular problem first, before trying to scale, is key to a successful new business. And he discusses the need for a more inclusive education in digital skills.

Dr. Lang is an Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems at Quinnipiac University, where he founded the university's App Development Lab and served as a founding board member of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Besides teaching in the Computer Information Systems, Business Analytics, and MBA programs, he advises students on how to launch technology startups. He is a serial entrepreneur and most recently the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of CheckSamples, a startup in the healthcare technology space. Dr. Lang has published dozens of articles in the area of computing education research, which have won awards from the Education Special Interest Group of the Association for Information Technology Professionals and appeared in journals such as the Journal of Computer Information Systems, Journal of Information Systems Education, and Journal of Research on Technology in Education. He has been a Visiting Researcher at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, where he conducted research on global digital skills initiatives. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Learn more: LinkedIn

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Producer Joshua Williams joins host Christopher Lacy to share in a special conversation with Sabrina Lynch, an integrated marketing and communication specialist about the issue of race and fashion, specifically as it relates to black people. This episode includes frank discussion about the systemic racism inherent in fashion, the commoditization of black culture and the lack of black voices in the industry, and concludes with a challenge for fashion brands to listen, reflect and act for equity and inclusion.

Sabrina Lynch is an integrated-marketing communications specialist, providing strategic counsel for blue-chip brands, start-up businesses and philanthropic organizations spanning America, Europe and Australasia. In addition, Sabrina is an Adjunct Professor at Manhattan College teaching Advanced Communications/Strategic Planning and a Facilitator at Fordham University. She is a champion for diversity and inclusion, leading to her being selected by Yahoo Finance! as a 2019 Ethnic Minority Role Model and D&I consultant for Parsons School of Fashion.

Learn more: LinkedIn

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sam Cotton shares insight on the fashion design process within the context of the full supply chain, from sourcing materials and production to retailing and end use. He discusses the fashion industry within the wider lens of philosophic and economic models and shares his ideas for a more sustainable future.

Sam is Creative Director and Owner of Raiment a contemporary Menswear brand with a focus on international collaborative British Craft. He draws Inspiration from cultural collaboration in craft such as architecture, furniture, ceramics and contemporary art. Each season Raiment tworks with overseas manufacturing, such as Nepalese Hand Weavers and part of the profits go to Charity. Previously Sam Cotton was the Mens RTW Lead Designer for Valentino. He was also Owner and Creative Director of a multi award winning international menswear brand; Agi & Sam, showing with the British Fashion Council at London Fashion Week. His experience includes working with and consulting for brands such as Alexander McQueen, J.W. Anderson, Pucci, Mont Blanc, LVMH, Richemont, COS, Nike and Karl Lagerfeld. 

Awards include: International Woolmark Prize Regional Winner 2016, LVMH Prize Finalist 2015, WGSN Breakthrough Designer of the Year 2015, GQ Men of the Year Award Breakthrough Designer 2014 and a British Fashion Award for Emerging Menswear 2013.

Learn more: LinkedIn | Raiment (coming soon)

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Global Fashion Management students Emily Wiens and Jessica Tsai share their retail strategies for Net-a-Porter and Muji, as part of their “Retailing and Service Design” final projects. They also provide insight on youth culture, consumer engagement and post-pandemic retailing.

Emily Wiens is a Canadian Fashion Management master’s student, currently researching the future of sustainable fashion systems and effective leadership management. She finds life in balancing her education with travel, and believes her time spent exploring diversity and cultures beyond her home has shaped her passion to empower marginalized communities. With a background in business, politics and technology, she aims to discover new ways where these experiences intersect with the fashion industry.

Learn more: LinkedIn | Email: emilyrwiens @ gmail.edu

Jessica Tsai has spent the past three years in Public Relations. She specializes in fast fashion, influencer marketing and social media content creation, particularly in the Asian market. She received her BA in German and Literature and spent time working as a professional German tour guide. She is a MPS Fashion Management student, graduating in August.

Learn more: LinkedIn | Email: tsaiy240 @ newschool.edu

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MPS Fashion Management students Jeanette Gong and Glenda Widjaja share their retail strategies for Aimé Leon Dore and Urban Outfitters, as part of their “Retailing and Service Design” final projects. They also provide insight on Gen Z customers and how brands can better engage them.

Jeanette Gong is an aspiring brand strategist passionate about fashion and luxury business development. Having worked in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and currently pursuing her MPS degree in Fashion Management in New York, Gong has an extensive understanding of the global markets.

Learn more: LinkedIn | Email: ygong @ new school.edu

Glenda Garcia Widjaja is a designer originally from Jakarta, Indonesia who is now based in New York City. She has a BFA in Fashion Design prior to continuing her education in the Fashion Management MPS program both at Parsons School of Design.

Learn more: Website | Instagram

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jon Harari shares his insight about the digitization of fashion and the work WindowsWear is doing to aggregate the creativity of store designers, visual merchandisers and packaging specialists. He equates information as power in a digital economy.

Jon is CEO of WindowsWear.com and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Baruch College. Jon also serves as a board member of Berkeley College’s Fashion Advisory Board, Indiana University’s Apparel Merchandising Advisory Board, and several charitable non-profit organizations in New York City. Jon is also a frequent speaker throughout New York City and around the world at university campuses and industry conferences.

Prior to co-founding WindowsWear, Jon established U.S. market opportunities for top internationally-based designers through retail stores, wholesale, events, PR, and online. Prior to working in fashion, Jon was an investment analyst at Aurelius Capital Management, one of the world’s top activist distressed investment hedge funds, and an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.

Learn more: www.linkedin.com/in/jonharari | WindowsWear | Jon Harrari

Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design

Executive Producer: Fashion Consort

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices