Recent Episodes

Nicole Swartz is the attorney and founder behind Sprout Law, a law firm for women business owners. She's also a business owner as well. In 2015, she started a skincare line that was featured in hundreds of stores around the world and even the Golden Globes gift bags. After two years, she had to rebrand the entire business because she didn't have a trademark. Now, she helps other women trademark their brands to avoid the same situation. Nicole is featured as an expert in Forbes, the Washington...

This week’s guest Alyssa Benner has been in retail for 16-17 years. She has worked in boutique shops and corporate owned retail & has always moved up quickly in those jobs due to not only loving what she did but hard work. She is a creative person by nature so when it came to merchandising it came so easy for her. As she began getting further into her career, she realized that not everybody had the skill set to merchandise. For job interviews, she would always lead with her amazing merchandis...

Marcie Pantzer is the founder of Dear Annabelle, a luxury paper goods brand that brings a whimsical wink to the classic art of correspondence. The brand was born from Marcie’s personal love of letter writing, starting when she went away to sleep away camp as a girl. Her passion for sending and receiving mail was only rivaled by her affection for the tools of the trade — beautiful stationery and fine paper products. With Dear Annabelle — named for her daughter — she’s created her dream line of s...

On this week’s episode, Michelle Sherrier, welcomes listeners to her latest hustle, MC Design Academy! MC Design Academy is designed to be a space where Michelle will share her expertise with you, where you'll get to learn all about visual merchandising, design, display, retail, and everything in between. Take a listen, head on over to MC Design Academy ...class is in session. Then, make sure she stays tuned for this special combo episode where she then delves into the show season and talks al...

This week’s guest is Sarah Schwartz, magazine editor, writer, podcaster and consultant. She first started covering stationery as a market editor for the trade publication Gifts & Decorative Accessories in 1997, and in 2008, she became founding editor of Stationery Trends, an award-winning trade quarterly magazine devoted to all things paper. She also maintains this site, podcasts at The Paper Fold, a five-star stationery salon. Sarah is a frequent industry speaker who is occasionally quoted i...

Located in Los Angeles, California, Chez Gagné letterpress was Founded in 2014 by Alex Gagné. As a creative outlet from her job as a marketing director for an IT company, Alex started taking night classes to learn the art of letterpress printing. After finding success designing and printing wedding invitations and cards for friends, family and then friends of friends, Chez Gagné became a full-time venture. Today, Chez Gagné sells hilarious yet inspirational gold foil mugs, drinkware, candles, w...

This week’s guest, Kathy Shaw is the Manager of Seaside Gallery and Goods and the Pelican Courtyard. Seaside has 15 small businesses working collectively and the Pelican Courtyard has 8 small businesses each in their own suite. Seaside Gallery and Goods is located in the heart of Newport Beach's famed harbor-side dining and shopping district. Seaside is a retail collective of small business owners specializing in clothing design, fine art, beauty products, baby goods, unique jewelry and coast...

Kaylin is the founder & CEO of JIGGY, a new jigsaw puzzle brand on a mission to modernize and elevate the humble jigsaw, and support female artists around the world. She turned her hobby into a company and has been featured on Shark Tank, Oprah's Favorite Things and won over celebrity fans including Gwyneth Paltrow, Lili Reinhart and Chrissy Teigen. Kaylin was previously the first employee at media startup theSkimm, and is an alum of Barnard College in New York City. Michelle & Kaylin discuss...

As we continue to celebrate our two-year anniversary, we’re bringing it back to our very first guests, Kelly & Lo Epstein from Kingfisher Road. Our favorite thing about this mother-daughter duo is the customer service both they and their team provide. Take a listen as we catch up on what’s new and things that peeve us. Hint: Competing with the manufacturers we buy from. This episode is sponsored by Fine Lines, a west coast wholesale rep agency with showrooms in Las Vegas and Seattle represent...

This week’s guest is Breegan Jane, an Los Angeles-based designer, author, philanthropist and mom to two boys. She showcases her expertise on HGTV, NBC, Hallmark Channel, Discovery, Food Network and more. You may recognize her from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Dream Home. She is a leading voice in design industry conversations. She also advocates for women and children in Kenya as a partner with international non-profit organization Mekuno Project. Breegan champions community and shares it ...

This week’s episode is all about Michelle’s show process - pre & post, how this year’s show is different for her, & why she prefers to experience the show with someone by her side. Grab a pen & pad and take notes – this one is chock full of valuable #retailtips! This episode sponsored by Opentobuy.co, they create RETAIL ROCK STARS and make inventory finance easy.

While growing up in Chicago and being influenced by the nature of all things city living and traveling the world for inspiration, Mashallah Ghouleh exploded onto the styling scene at a young age and has never looked back. Drawing from her international travels and experiences with her roster of clientele, she launched MASHALLAH in 2011 to create the versatile, beautifully crafted staples women's wardrobes were missing. As both a designer and collector of all things beautiful, her natural creativ...

We are so excited to welcome back one of our first podcast guests from back in 2021, Annie Glenn of Urban Girl Accessories. Her positivity and ability to find the silver lining in challenging situations is truly inspiring. With 11 stores & concepts, on this episode, Annie discusses how she deals with everything from loss prevention to customer service to the changes she has seen post-COVID. This week’s episode is sponsored by Sales Producers Inc. a progressive business to business company ...

They were two healthy, young women when both of their lives changed in the blink of an eye. In 2015, Christina suddenly became very ill. After many misdiagnoses and long hospital stays, she was finally diagnosed with a multi-systemic disease in 2017. Refusing to live a life of pills and wheelchairs, she spent the following years studying natural remedies to help heal, alleviate symptoms and pull toxins from her body. Through her research and studying her Masters in Sustainability at Harvard, she...

This week’s guest is Trudi Bartow, Director of Sales & Marketing at the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. Trudi joined the gift world via the preeminent art book publisher Harry N. Abrams and created unique opportunities for sales at gift retailers like Neiman Marcus, Crate & Barrel, Barneys and Sur La Table, including custom designer editions and exclusive bundles. After 15 years working with various publishers, she joined the fantastic team at the Unemployed Philosophers Guild as their Directo...

Erik & Courtney Legenhausen opened Lotus Jewelry Studio in 2007. Their vision was to create a line of handmade products that would reflect the latest trends, while upholding the quality that was fostered by their background as fine jewelers. They also had a dream of providing an avenue for other artists to come and earn a living under Lotus’ roof. Over the past 10 years, they turned their basement business into a thriving company that provides their unique pieces to thousands of retailers, both ...

Raised in Carmel, in a family of retailers - it's in Wish Walnut Creek owner Sasha Varni’s blood! Sasha worked for her mom's candle store growing up and during college. Lived in Italy for a short time after college, then moved to San Francisco, working for Sephora corporate, and then bareMinerals corporate doing marketing and producing their video content and commercials. She then moved to Walnut Creek the week before having her first baby (10.5 years ago!). Coupled with the commute and maternit...

This week we welcome Bob Negen, co-founder of WhizBang! Retail Training. Bob is a retail expert, author, speaker, and business coach who motivates and trains independent retailers to improve and grow their businesses with actionable tactics and strategies. His proven systems and techniques consistently deliver measurable results in over 40 retail industries. On this episode, Michelle & Bob discuss how he speaks to business owners in their own language using real-world retail experiences and h...

This week we welcome Valerie (Val to her friends!) Wright, Brand Development & Sales Manager for Pixie Mood, a consciously leather-less, Canadian, female-led company. Val has learned to use her Psychology degree, within the retail space, to really understand what people need and how to get into the mind & heart of what people want in the world of fashion. Val has always found it effortlessly organic when visualizing trends. Curating fashion themes and stories is her love language. Listen u...

We are so excited to have Sean Jimenez, president of Socksmith back as a guest. A former retailer, now turned wholesaler, Sean has been in the industry for over 25 years. He now runs a great, multi-million-dollar novelty sock and design company based in Santa Cruz, California. Take a listen as these two industry veterans Michelle catch up and talk about all things retail. This episode sponsored by Opentobuy.co, they create RETAIL ROCK STARS and make inventory finance easy! Website Insta...

Julie McCallum is the retail group editorial director and co-owner of Great American Media Services. She has been covering the specialty retail industry for more than 20 years. As a graduate of Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, Julie is passionate about reporting and telling the stories of makers and independent retailers – creating content that will inspire, inform and help them succeed in their businesses. She also serves on the board of directors for Gift for Life, the gift...

Meet Andrew & Chelsea Evans, co-founders & owners of Roaming Travelers. Launched in 2020, Roaming Travelers offers locals & tourists a curated boutique clothing shopping experience. It has grown to operate two retail locations in Joshua Tree & 29 Palms. Through hosting events & pop-ups featuring local or emerging designers and vendors, they have been able to provide a sustainable & eco-friendly shopping experience. Michelle, Andrew & Chelsea discuss the future of retail, what that looks like ...

In 2022, Energy Muse is *the* crystal authority. But when co-founders Heather Askinosie and Timmi Jandro first started Energy Muse over 20 years ago, it was with just one necklace. Heather, who had been traveling the world in the name of spiritual research for some time, had turned her Manhattan Beach home into a makeshift energy lab where she could test ancient holistic philosophies. She began tinkering with a formula to create the energy of wealth. By combining the crystal energy of Jade...

Erin Sarpa is the Creative Director at StationeryHQ.com, a wholesale Print On Demand company that specializes in custom stationery and gifts, serving creative small businesses. Erin opened a design agency at 23 years old, worked for all the big dogs in Silicon Valley and won awards while creating an all-women team. She joined StationeryHQ.com a few years ago with goals to grow a community as well as the company. Erin freaking loves creative people and entrepreneurs and is passionate about suppor...