Maybe I was born to be a merchant, maybe it was fate. I don't know about that. But I know this for sure: I loved retail from the very beginning.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'm lucky that I was in retailing during the time that I call the golden age of retailing.
I think a lot of times when people talk about merchants, it's almost a nostalgic look back at the time where the world moved at a very different pace, and information was very different.
The thought in my mind was that I must be a good merchant. If I were a good merchant, the rest would probably take care of itself.
One of the people who most influenced me was Ben Shapiro, a marketing professor at the business school. He used to rant and rave and pound his fist: 'It's all about the customers!' And he was right. He was also right that, at that time, retailing was devoid of really talented people; he urged me to go in that direction.
My mother likes to say that I was conceived to shop - not just born to shop. My whole life as a child was following her and her sister and friends around on her shopping trips.
I fell in love with commerce and the opportunities that come with compelling visual storytelling.
Growing up, I knew you were supposed to have a profession - and something better than being a shopkeeper, which is what my parents were.
A merchant is someone who figures out how to select, how to smell, how to identify, how to feel, how to time, how to buy, how to sell, and how to hopefully have two plus two equal six.
I think the universe was preparing me to be an actor. I never pursued one thing for long, but I was jack of all trades. I was learning everything possible because I knew my father would never shell out money for dresses or parties, but he would always give me money for new courses and books.
No one in my family had a retail or marketing background. They were professionals. They didn't understand just what I was doing by going into retailing. After I started, though, it got into my blood. I knew this was what I wanted.