Founder and Chief Executive of a Direct Sales Fashion Jewelry company from start-up to over $110 million annual retail sales, with 50,000 active independent sales contractors across the US. Simultaneously served as Chief Designer leading the fashion and brand direction for over 22 years.• Identified an opportunity in the fashion jewelry market, leveraging private seed investment to create Cookie Lee brand concept from scratch• Formulated and devised business strategy and format, identifying direct sales as the chosen channel of distribution• Analyzed the competitive marketplace and identified salable trends to bring to market, continuously designed new products on a seasonal basis, delivering 400 new SKUs each bi-annual season, in addition to monthly and holiday offerings• Sourced competent manufacturers across Asia (Taiwan, China, Korea, India) to partner on the feasibility, profitability, design, development and revisions of mass produced productso Increased margins from keystone pricing up to 10x margin on a per SKU basis• Scaled for growth by centralizing product distribution to a consolidated warehousing hub in Houston, TX (approx. 150,000 sq. ft. and variable workforce of 100+ employees)• Served as face of the brand, including press coverage, advertising, public relations and speaking engagements at industry events and conferences• Grew a salesforce of independent contractors from a regional to a national presence, reaching 50,000 consultants across the country• Responsible for the continuous recruitment, training, development and sales recognition of the workforce, including annual sales conferences (up to 5,000 annual attendees) and sales incentive trips (up to 1,500 annual contest winners)• Employed up to 330+ corporate employees at a single given time, encompassing multiple functions: c-suite, finance, accounting, HR, product design, PR/marketing, IT, sales, operations/inventory management and warehousing

Led the creation and development of the ‘Minnie ‘n Me’ product line, forging a new licensing partnership between Mattel and Disney• Responsible for the end-to-end marketing strategy, including conception, product development, packaging and advertising to delivery and presentation at the North American International Toy Fair• Directed the Mattel R&D team for the creation and ideation of this new branded product

Managed marketing strategy, new product development, packaging creation and distribution for the Revlon Max Factor brand• Established brand positioning and field-activated promotions for channel distribution within food, drug and mass merchandisers• Responsible for niche competitive market insights related to Teen division of the Revlon brand, including lip, nail and skincare categories• Created exclusive and time-sensitive seasonal product launches to increase consumption, drive brand loyalty and encourage repeat purchases

Developed marketing strategy for microwave popcorn category, growing consumer awareness of Orville Redenbacher into a national brand leader• Supported multiple product categories and line extensions, including retail merchandising, packaging development and content creation for multi-channel advertising• Partnered with R&D to pioneer the brand communication and go-to-market strategy for transition from stovetop to microwave popcorn

Drove marketing strategy and brand communications in response to the historic 1982 Tylenol poisoning crisis• Crisis management and support of emergency mass recall of nationwide retail product inventory• Partnered with corporate R&D and packaging teams to develop and bring-to-market the iconic safety seal packaging for the Tylenol brand• Created PR and marketing plans to promote the new product introduction of caplet medication from previous capsule form(which had been made obsolete following the crisis)• Cross-functional partnership with Legal department on approvals for packaging copy in compliance with FDA• Simultaneously supported new product development, including ideation and testing of cold and flu product line extensions• Inaugural Summer intern at McNeil supporting Childrens’ Tylenol; developed field-activated promotions to increase sales for food, drug and mass merchandisers