How Orveon Digital Chief Salima Popatia Chases Challenges to Fuel Her Career
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Digital Content Director Kristina Stidham interviews Salima Popatia, chief digital officer at Orveon, a collective of premium cosmetics brands, including Laura Mercier, bareMinerals, and BUXOM. This episode was recorded at the 2023 Women in Retail Leadership Summit (WIRLS), held in Phoenix last month.
Listen in as Popatia provides a glimpse into her WIRLS session with technology partner Cordial (1:10), her career journey in retail that led to her current role (2:12), and her approach to leading Orveon’s digital transformation (4:08). She discusses what it means to run a collective of brands from a technology perspective (5:45), how mentorship and community helped fuel her professional growth (7:18) and how she chased challenges in roles throughout her career (9:07).
Furthermore, Popatia discusses how women can overcome imposter syndrome to rise to the next role (10:10), her high-low leadership style (11:30), and how her entrepreneurial drive impacts her corporate career (13:30). She shares her advice for other women who hope to land an executive-level leadership position (15:15) as well as what she’s looking forward to, personally and professionally, heading into 2024 (16:30).
Salima Popatia serves as the chief digital officer for Orveon, responsible for architecting digital consumer strategies using data-driven insights and connected technologies. Salima is an entrepreneurial executive with over 20 years experience in digital branding and customer-first strategies. She’s passionate for brands with purpose and driving strategic balance between creativity and commerce to meet the needs of the evolving consumer. A consumer data expert with strong acumen in e-commerce platforms and marketing technologies, Salima has found success innovating across performance and CM marketing channels to drive growth. She has led companies in all phases of growth, from being a founder to scaling businesses and turning around P&Ls to driving incremental growth within large enterprise-level organizations. Salima graduated from the Stern School of Business at NYU. She’s married with two children and lives in Jersey City, NJ.
Date: May 2, 2023
Credits: Salima Popatia
Duration: 17:57
More Episodes
CAMP CEO and President Jenica Myszkowski on Scaling Immersive Retail Experiences
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Co-Founder Melissa Campanelli interviews Jenica Myszkowski, CEO and president of CAMP, an experience company that brings families together through immersive adventures that inspire play. This discussion was recorded at Shoptalk in Las Vegas last week. Myszkowski discusses how previous roles shaped her as a leader; overcoming challenges as CAMP scales and opens new stores; how she stays inspired and creative; and more.
11:27 Motivating Teams Through Radical Transparency: Insights From Lulus' CEO Crystal Landsem
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Co-Founder Melissa Campanelli interviews Crystal Landsem, CEO of Lulus, the attainable luxury women's fashion brand known for trendy, stylish and feminine apparel, footwear and accessories. Landsem discusses the challenges and experiences that have informed her leadership style; her career journey from finance to fashion retail; motivating teams through radical transparency and servant leadership; her advice for young women leaders; and more.
20:54 RERUN: How BARK CXO Meghan Knoll Brings Storytelling to Dog Toy Design
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Managing Editor Marie Albiges interviews Meghan Knoll, chief experience officer (CXO) at BARK, the leading global omnichannel dog brand known for its monthly subscription, BarkBox. Knoll provides an overview of her primary responsibilities as CXO, a few learnings from building the BARK business to where it is today, how she empowers her team to be innovative, her push-pull approach to work-life imbalance, and more.
40:09 Inside TOMS’ Turnaround: CCO Katie Wagner on Wholesale Growth and Brand Reinvention
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Managing Editor Marie Albiges interviews Katie Wagner, chief commercial officer at TOMS, a Certified B Corporation global lifestyle brand known for its iconic shoes and giving model. Listen in as Wagner reflects on the first 20 years of the TOMS brand; balancing its iconic heritage with a brand refresh; lessons learned from her time at Crocs; creating a culture of curiosity; and more.
36:46 ButcherBox Commercial Chief Reba Hatcher on 'Mastering the Spin' in Career Transitions
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Managing Editor Marie Albiges interviews Reba Hatcher, chief commercial officer at ButcherBox, a delivery subscription service that offers high-quality, humanely raised meat and seafood. Hatcher shares insights about ButcherBox’s evolution over 10 years; using data to achieve growth while staying connected to customers; her varied, nonlinear career trajectory; advice on navigating cross-industry career changes; and more.
32:41 Rothy's CEO Dayna Quanbeck on Growth and Credibility Rooted in Sustainability
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Co-Founder Melissa Campanelli interviews Dayna Quanbeck, CEO and president of Rothy's, a direct-to-consumer company which takes a whole-brand approach to sustainability in manufacturing, transforming recycled materials into shoes, handbags and accessories. This episode was recorded at the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City last week. Listen in as Quanbeck shares how Rothy's evolves while maintaining core values; what strong executive credibility looks like; lessons from her mentor, friend and former Rothy's CEO Jenny Ming; and more.
21:29 Boden Commercial Chief Katherine Danneberg Taps Into Her Leadership Purpose as an Enabler of Creativity
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Co-Founder Melissa Campanelli interviews Katherine Danneberg, chief commercial officer at Boden, the quintessentially British clothing brand for women and children. Listen in as Danneberg explains the evolution of her leadership style, her leadership purpose, hiring the right team members to fit Boden's brand values, strategies for developing future leaders, and more.
25:51 How Walmart EVP Andrea Albright Creates Psychological Safety
This special episode of Women in Retail Talks features a rerun of a previously published interview with Andrea Albright, executive vice president and chief growth officer, International, Walmart and operating partner, Massmart. This episode was originally published on March 18. Albright discusses how operational efficiency across Walmart's global network is led by the values of trust, value and resiliency; her usage of the Radical Candor leadership technique; how she's created an open and coachable environment for mentorship; and more.
21:22 How REI President and CEO Mary Beth Laughton Leads With Purpose
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Co-Founder Melissa Campanelli interviews Mary Beth Laughton, president and CEO of REI Co-op, a specialty outdoor retailer and the nation’s largest consumer co-op. This interview was recorded at the Women in Retail Leadership Circle On the Road: Seattle event, held on Nov. 6. Mary Beth details her career journey, lessons she's learned from leading purpose-driven brands, her approach to mentorship, and more.
26:37 How PopSockets CEO Jiayu Lin Taps Into Cultural Relevance With Global Reach
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, Women in Retail Leadership Circle Managing Editor Marie Albiges interviews Jiayu Lin, CEO of PopSockets, a global digital lifestyle company that sells empowering, fun and expressive products for mobile phones. Lin describes the business' 10 years of growth since inventing the original phone grip, how PopSockets taps into culturally relevant microtrends across more than 30 countries, protecting her and her team members' personal time, and more.
30:27 
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
YouTube Music
Amazon Music
Pandora