For over twenty five years, Malia Mills has pioneered an inclusive and inspiring voice on the subject of women and beauty. In 1993, Mills launched her luxurious collection of bra-sized swimwear separates to critical acclaim.

With Love Thy Differences™ as her mission, mantra and driving force, Malia Mills has expanded her signature swimwear collection to include ready-to-wear and accessories. From A to F cup and sizes 1 to 22, each piece is designed using luxurious fabrics and a retro-modern aesthetic to celebrate the feminine fierce. "When you put on a swimsuit that celebrates the rockstar you are, there's nothing you can't accomplish," says Mills.

Mills created the company, aka The House of Hell Yes, to champion women and to be a catalyst for opportunities for women to live bold and not so well-behaved lives.

On this episode, she talks with Stephanie von Watzdorf about her initial pre-internet job search to get her foot in the door at Nordstrom's, and the invaluable career advice she received when faced with two competing job offers and a desire to pursue a career as a designer.

Stephanie von Watzdorf is an accomplished creative director, curator and fashion designer with more than 30 years' experience. She is known for the artistic and intuitive style she brings to design, be it clothes, accessories, or soulful spaces. She currently works as a consultant specializing in fashion, accessories and interior design.

Stephanie was born in Paris to a German/French father and a Russian mother. Her grandfather, Leonide Massine, was the renowned Ballets Russes choreographer whose friends and collaborators included Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Leon Bakst and Igor Stravinsky. Stephanie’s immersion into this richly artistic, wayfaring life instilled in her an appreciation for other cultures, fine fabrics, music, dance, language and nature.

A graduate of Parson School of Design and recipient of Calvin Klein’s Golden Thimble award, Stephanie refined her aesthetic working for venerable fashion houses including Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Ann Taylor, and Ralph Lauren. In 2004, she joined Tory Burch as the original vice president of design, where she led design development and ready-to-wear accessories for over seven years. 

In this episode, Stephanie speaks with Malia Mills about how her background, work experiences and love of travel culminated in 2011, when she founded Figue, a luxury fashion and lifestyle brand that captures the global gypsy-meets-jet-set spirit that is her native tongue. As creative director and the face of the label, Stephane grew a conscious company from the ground up, with roots in sustainability, heritage, travel and artisanship.

Originally from Spain, Rosella Lopez has worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years starting in Paris with Diane Von Furstenberg, then in London with Ralph Lauren, and for the past ten years in New York as the Vice President of CUSHNIE.

Growing CUSHNIE from the start to a multi-million-dollar company, she acquired the experience and knowledge to focus her career on consulting for companies in need of leadership and collectively working on building strategic roadmaps for growth involving sales distribution, merchandising, marketing, branding, e-commerce, and capital investment.

Listen as Rosella speaks with Rachel Wolff about the path that took her from Valencia to New York for business school, a return to Europe to start her professional career, before it eventually led her back again to New York.

Rachel Wolff has more than two decades of experience in fashion retail - general management, strategy, merchandising, operations, buying, sales, product development. Her career experience includes Chief Merchandising and Product officer of Cuyana, General Manager/ VP Merch for Loeffler Randall & Tea Collection.

Listen as she talks with Rosella Lopez about the twists and turns that set her on her career path, and how having her first child prompted her to re-assess what she most wanted from her career.

Rita comes from one of the most prominent families in the international fashion system. Her former key positions include: GM of North America of Woolrich USA, CEO of Costume National USA and Executive Vice President of USIT.

She speaks with Agathe Lerolle about her family's remarkable influence on international fashion, what she learned about the business from her parents and working with her brothers, and later her push for the global inclusivity she wants to see in the fashion industry.

Agathe Lerolle is the Founder of Sur Mesure Executive Search, a boutique recruitment firm specializing in the Fashion, Luxury, and Retail industry. She has conducted over 5,000 interviews in the span of a 15-year career and is a leading expert in executive recruitment talent marketing, and sourcing. Prior to starting Sur Mesure Executive Search, she was a Director at K&J Executive Search and a Principal at Sterling International from 2006 to 2009, having spent several years at JP Morgan in Paris and New York. She has extensive knowledge of Fashion & Luxury brands, having worked with Louis Vuitton, Graff, Harry Winston, Cartier, Frederic Malle, Goyard, Dior, Chloe, Aether, Vestiaire Collective, A.P.C. amongst others.

Listen as she talks with Rita Capasa about the unusual way in which she went into recruiting, and her shift from working with brands to find the right candidates to working with candidates to find them the right jobs in a changing and evolving industry.

April co-founded THE BOARD, a vetted network of C-level consultants bringing “dream team” expertise to brands. April most recently held CEO positions at VIOLET GREY & ONDA Beauty.

Listen as she speaks with Marisa Runyon about pivoting out of fashion, and the winding path that led to, in her words, drinking out of a fire hose to gain the experience and knowledge she needed to become a CEO, and later co-found THE BOARD.

Marisa has more than a decade of experience creating premium content in the fashion, beauty and lifestyle space. As a digitally-savvy, metric-focused editor and content creator, she has spearheaded everything from new video series and branded content to e-commerce strategy.

She served as the Senior Style Producer & Editor for Entertainment Tonight Digital, where she launched both the Style & Shopping content verticals, and as the Head of Video for The Zoe Report. Before shifting her focus to digital content, Marisa started her production career in unscripted television, producing shows for Bravo, Lifetime and Style Network.

Listen as she speaks with April Uchitel about her belief in learning on the job and her skill, luck and timing of recognizing when the next career opportunity was presenting itself.

Kathryn Kallison has 20 years of experience building and leading teams managing logistics, customer service, distribution and warehousing for retail and wholesale consumer goods. She is currently VP Logistics for Flow Commerce (acquired by Global-e), a SaaS platform that helps e-commerce merchants scale their brands globally.

Listen as she tells Carol Pearson about how the HR job she accidentally landed after graduating from college opened the door to her work in the fashion industry, and how her initial work in HR has influenced her career since.

Carol grew up in the United Kingdom and after her studies, embarked on a 20-year odyssey around the world pursuing her global HR career. Carol opened Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Australia and Asia, led the HR aspects of a start-up in San Francisco, worked as SVP Human Resources North America, for the LVMH Fashion Group and more recently was European HR VP for InterContinental Hotels Group.

Listen as she speaks with Kathryn Kallison about her global journey, her pursuit of lifelong learning and the self-fulfillment that she says comes from helping others to fly.