Revolve clothing company11/20/2023 ![]() "But that required a lot of hard work and self-talk for me to even get myself out of that mindset," she says. She drew from her decade-plus experience in entrepreneurship, fashion, online retail and her ability to turn Revolve into a social-media power-house to ground herself in her business savvy and make the pitch. "But after a day of meeting with investors, I was like, 'Absolutely. "I was like, 'Oh my God, am I cut out to do this?'" Gerona continues. "I never expected myself to be in a room where I'm pitching a billion-dollar deal to investors and talking about the power of influencer marketing and experiential marketing. "I didn't go to business school, I didn't go to an Ivy league school," Gerona says. While the past few years have been an uncertain time for traditional apparel retailers, Revolve's influencer-driven marketing strategy and ability to connect with millennial and Gen Z shoppers had the company on track to hit $600 million in sales in 2019.īut along the way, Gerona once again had to find a way to feel confident in her role.Įarlier in 2019, Gerona joined Mente and Karanikolas to prepare to bring Revolve public, and she found herself in an unfamiliar position: in rooms full of mostly male investors. The strategy has proven to be a successful one. As a company executive, she sought to reach consumers directly on social media, which is when she pitched the idea to Mente and co-founder Mike Karanikolas to partner with bloggers-turned-social media influencers to expand Revolve's reach. (The two met when Gerona was selling her clothing line on Revolve's platform.) Gerona and Mente ended up launching a new brand together, which Revolve eventually bought in 2015.įollowing the sale, Gerona became Revolve's chief brand officer. When Gerona was ready to pick up the pieces of her career, she found a mentor in Revolve co-founder and co-CEO Michael Mente. Gerona and her team declined to comment on how much money was lost with the closure of Brigid Catiis. "But I do think it's a process, and I think it's important to feel those feelings and just be like, 'All right, I'm done with it, and I'm moving on.'"Īnother mindset that helped her move forward: "It's so hard to get over feeling like you failed at something, but truly, everything is temporary in that way." "It really starts with yourself, to pick yourself back up and know that you can continue to move forward," she says. Self-reflection was the ultimate key in being able to restore her confidence and continue pursuing her ideas. ![]() ![]() ![]() She says it was important to allow herself to feel grief over the career setback. "That obviously takes a toll on your confidence and how much you believe in yourself." "It was quite difficult for me in the beginning when that happened to me to say, 'OK, I failed at this and couldn't make this work,'" Gerona tells CNBC Make It. But just a decade ago, Gerona had to close her first online clothing brand, Brigid Catiis, after she ran out of money at the height of the Great Recession. ![]()
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