DVF Chief Brand Officer Sherry Shi's Advice to Break Into the C-Suite
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Senior Editor Marie Albiges interviews Sherry Shi, chief brand officer at Diane von Furstenberg (DVF), a global luxury fashion brand founded by iconic fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. Shi discusses her responsibilities in her role at DVF (0:59), and how she dealt with the stress of joining the brand during the COVID-19 pandemic to lead transformation (3:12). Furthermore, she shares how she built trust with her new team at DVF (6:35), what she looks for when hiring new team members (7:49), and how she transitioned her career from e-commerce technology solutions to luxury fashion retail (9:32).
Shi discusses the challenges she faced in showing her vulnerability as a woman in a male-dominated environment (12:53), as well as what actions retail leaders can take to better support the advancement of women, and specifically Asian and Asian-American women (16:22). Lastly, she shares her advice for women leaders looking to enter the C-suite (19:36) and the leadership lessons she’s learned from Diane von Furstenberg herself (22:28).
Sherry Shi is the chief brand officer for Diane Von Furstenberg, responsible for the digital transformation and business expansion of the brand since 2020. Prior to DVF, Shi was senior vice president of APAC digital expansion for Marc Jacobs, where she created its China digital expansion strategy and launched the brand on Tmall. Shi joined Marc Jacobs from Shopbop, Amazon.com’s luxury fashion subsidiary, where she led international expansion in key global markets. Prior to Amazon Shopbop, Shi was the founding member of the Amazon Export team responsible for creating the new cross-border business for Amazon Retail, and later built the U.S. to China Global Selling team for Amazon Marketplace. Before Amazon, Shi built a progressive career dedicated to global expansion at Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce and FedEx International Marketing.
Date: August 2, 2022
Credits: Sherry Shi
Duration: 25:00
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