What have you accomplished in your professional life/career since your 40 Under 40 selection?
So much! In 2004, I was just starting out in my career in advertising and marketing. I went on to create and produce Wisconsin Fashion Week for a number of years, which attracted national attention for homegrown talent. This opened doors for me to move to Los Angeles and work with LA Fashion Week, and eventually transitioned to work with beauty product brands in marketing and product development. This took me to Miami and then Dallas working with national and international brands. I received a Marketer of the Year award from DFW AMA in 2016 as Poo-Pourri’s marketing director. I left there to launch my own brand, Zodica Perfumery, a collection of zodiac inspired perfumes. So much of me is in my brand, from the formulation to the graphic design to selling live on QVC to over 40 million households (10 times!).
Zodica has since been picked up by
and will soon launch in Whole Foods. I was due to open a permanent retail space in NYC’s Chelsea Market this past May but that’s on hold due to COVID. It’s meant so much to be able to move back to my home state of Wisconsin after building my career elsewhere to open my first flagship boutique and production studio in Monroe.
What accomplishments, milestones, or endeavors have you attained in your personal life since your 40 Under 40 selection?
I’ve now lived and worked in some of the biggest cities in the U.S., including Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, and New York City. This has tremendously expanded my world view and given me opportunities I didn’t have here in Wisconsin. I feel fortunate to bring the connections and learnings back to my home state of Wisconsin to help provide opportunities for others to do the same.
If you were to “do it all over again,” what (if anything) would you do differently throughout your career?
I would have started sooner. I got married at 20 and didn’t focus on my career until I divorced at 27.
How did your 40 Under 40 selection help your career?
The 40 Under 40 recognition has helped open so many doors for me not just in Wisconsin but beyond in other states and markets. It helps communicate immediately the quality of my leadership and experience.
What is something that you have a new passion for since the time of your induction — either professionally or personally?
Chemistry! I never saw that coming! But after getting into the beauty industry, I started working with chemists on new beauty product formulations and have learned so much. I now mix all my own perfume products.
Based on your experience, do you have any advice for today’s young professionals (under 40)?
Find your area of brilliance and do that relentlessly. You’ll know when you find it because work will feel like play.
Click here to sign up for the free IB Ezine — your twice-weekly resource for local business news, analysis, voices, and the names you need to know. If you are not already a subscriber to In Business magazine, be sure to sign up for our monthly print edition here.
