Monsoon Art.
I studied Psychology in Undergrad at the University of Western with economics and philosophy and it’s where I found what moves me intellectually: which is where they all intersect – that none of them are removed from the other and interact with each other in a way that in North America at least is rarely acknowledged. During this time, I studied a year abroad in Holland where I learned fashion was a legitimate career (!) and also a field with so much depth that I could dive into that I had no idea was there.
After my Undergraduate, I moved to Italy where I studied a Master’s in Fashion Marketing.& Merchandising and figured out that I wanted to work in Fashion because it was the nexus between economics, politics, philosophy, psychology and the battleground (one of) on which the fight for equality has always been fought: from fabrication, to color, to silhouette all the way upto the industrial revolution and the beginnings of conspicuous consumption, as well as the flights of fancy in the ruling class: that once tan skin meant poor and then switched to meaning wealthy since it implied rest centuries later (and this applies to many different signifiers of wealth.) Fashion is a language and I wanted to be fluent.
I, then interned in NYC for a fashion house that had done the embroidery for lots of large fashion houses and was branching out into their own RTW line, and in that time attended NYFW, Coterie and other trade shows and saw the development of a line from start to finish, to marketing and sales.
From there, I was hired at The Hudson Bay Company where I worked for almost seven years as a senior analyst where I created my role as a shared asset between three different companies, working in all the heavy data analytics, planning, buying, merchandising and allocations for multiple brands in multiple departments.
I went back to learn a trade after my time at The Bay, at George Brown College – I enrolled and graduated from the Fashion Techniques and Design Program where I learned the other half of my industry – Industrial Design (construction & pattern drafting, graphic design & portfolio design as well as product development).
After graduation, I gave myself a soft landing by working in a bookstore while deciding which direction I ultimately wanted to go in and once Covid hit and I was laid off, I found my way into collaging, as a means of keeping busy and also as a means of art therapy. It really took off in the past year, I found I had a consistent voice and that collaging for me is ultimately the nexus of all my intellectual loves, especially fashion.
Work on TWIG Research Projects as allocated by Executive Director
Assist the Executive Director with strategic communications and social media
Conduct literature scans and monitor appropriate sources to identify emergent issues within workforce development, labour market trends and other economic indicators impacting Toronto’s labour force
Editing research documents, papers, articles and briefs
Up-date TWIGS website & social media platforms
Participate in TWIG planning activities (e.g. business plans, grant submissions, project reports, etc.)
Create labour market reports using Burning Glass software and create data visualizations to make data easily digestible
Assisting Executive Office Manager with administration including events/website maintenance/gallery/ social media engagement, and archiving.
provide guided tours in the gallery, event delivery and other visitor services duties under Public Health Protocols
Assisting with administrative and other duties as required to maintain the daily operation of WAAC
Assisting in organizing and delivery of WAAC's Public events online and on-site
Assisting with enhancing outreach and accessibility of WAAC events and opportunities
Assist with developing, promoting and implementing public relations, marketing and promotional strategies to increase attendance & sales
Reconciling sales records on Quickbooks and creating/sending invoices via SN4P programs
Experience spearheading the requirement gathering aspect of creating BRDs, evidenced by creating comprehensive set of reports and presentations for a fictional retailer as manipulatable data templates for real-time training based off case building documentation
Create report templates including merchandise plans, category reports, item selling reports, purchase orders, open to buy financial documents and presentations of key report findings with charts and data visuals to support conclusions
Analyze product assortments as requested end season to help plan next-season purchases in quarterly and yearly post mortems
Perform regular check-ins on business performance using key metrics of inventory, sales, sell-thru, margin as well as incorporating broader perspectives of consumer traffic, color and fit stories, store layout, mannequin styling as well as customer demographics
Assess and analyze product performance to determine optimal markdown strategies as well as short, medium and long term actions to optimize opportunities while mitigating risk
Draw overarching trend conclusions and translate to actionable strategies to drive sales or ramp out of sales slumps
Provide competitive analyses including pricing and promotional strategies as well as general marketplace trends
Provide training on how to use BIS/SQL queries to pull data efficiently as well as training packages to create outlines on what data to focus on, hierarchy of metrics and explanations on limitations of data in various extenuating circumstances
Making meaningful connections with customers to both build long lasting relationships and build baskets at POS
Leverage product knowledge to tell stories and curate specific product collections both for individual customers as well as on-floor merchandising
Led in-store Love of Reading fundraising, placing first across all 209 Indigo stores nationwide
Compiled a centralized resource for our store to buy/stock Black authors in response to Black Lives Matter as well as Indigenous titles to increase diversity and inclusivity in our in-store offerings
Trained and mentored 10 new employees through shadowing as well as hands on training on cash, sales and best practices
Help create social media content to engage followers and posts that capitalize and keep a pulse on current trending issues
Consistently the top performer in achieving quarterly bonusses by overachieving to target metrics for 3 years
Utilized acrylics, charcoal and collage to design mixed media, drawings and painting pieces
Successfully manage and coordinate graphic design projects from concept to completion based on client feedback
Work closely with clients to create vision, conceive designs and consistently meet deadlines and requirements
Highly skilled in client & vendor relations and negotiations, as well building and maintaining win-win partnerships, working in deadline driven environments with strict budget requirements
Created and cultivated a portfolio of collage artistry which transitioned into an online drop ship business of originals, prints & custom embroidery art
Responsibilities included brand development and growth, facilitating communication and problem solving between multiple parties and isolation of opportunities or potential issues to growth to improve overall business & revenue streams.
Support buying team in next season purchases using historical analysis and industry research, liaise with planning teams to forecast pre season budgets and support vendors with store operations
Use retail systems JDA, SAS, BIS, BIT, POWB and Retek for replenishment and analysis to predict trends & isolate patterns in buying, adjust allocations to reflect in-season trends as well as make recommendations on re-orders of product based on sales, OH levels and margin performance where applicable
Design ad-hoc reporting and give weekly, monthly and quarterly line reviews on state of business, anticipated successes/issues with recommendations to course correct as well as oversee OTB
Review weekly sales performance at individual and category level to isolate poor performers, trigger markdowns, anniversary promotions and strategize course corrections including short term targeted promos, store transfers based on specific store performance, inventory swaps to vendor where applicable and editing incoming shipments/pending buys to reflect developing in-season trends
Develop training manual for data end users including stores and vendor to drive KPIs as well as develop 60-page training resource available to stores to replicate reports upon vendor request
Advise marketing & e-commerce teams on best e-comm templates and assortments while building relationships within company & outside industry
Conduct deep research and analysis on sales and vendor/supplier relations to trouble shoot problems to streamline processes, resulting in recovering a lost shipment of inventory worth over $1 million at cost, as well as strategically changing of flow of inventory to better achieve to financial plans
Research cultural, economic & trade patterns to filter trend forecasting as well as attend tradeshows for fabric, color & silhouette trends
Offer suggestions to improve sales & shipping at a store, product, color level as well as at the aggregates of regional, commodity and style sales and create trend & sls summaries sent out to showrooms, buyers, VPs as well as stores with KPIs performance & store rankings
Excellent buying and merchandising skills to capture tone of a line & current zeitgest to match target market, evidenced by editing multiple nation-wide brands during market, leading to financial awards for overachieving to financial plans in multiple quarters
Excellent eye and analytical mind, evidenced by successfully analyzing sales to pick best-selling styles chosen for nation-wide “one million dollar sales” promo four years running as well as in-season ‘Bay Day’ items, selling out beyond projected sales
Conduct market research on competitor pricing to ensure not being priced out of certain markets nor undercut by promotions in parallel markets
Responsibilities included assisting SVP and Account Executives on special sales, PR and marketing projects, helping with sales at major tradeshows (Intermezzo/Coterie/NYFW) and with all facets of the Fall 2012 season.
Worked independently on a cross vendor price analysis within the contemporary market
Assisted Account Executive with major department store orders, as well as EDI system
Worked with sales team to create and produce line-sheet for Fall 2012 season
Assisted with Fall 2012 Presentation at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week; Supported SVP with all facets of the Fall 2011 Market
Prepared cost-benefit analyses of distribution strategies and sales reports by region, best-sellers and client commentary
Spearheaded and co-edited a comparative analytic study published & presented to the managing director of PHARD SpA"
Extensive research led to the successful repositioning of the PHARD brand in the Italian market
Worked with creative team to develop a new brand identity and targeted approach to consumers building on online distribution
Responsibilities included keeping flow of information between various departments moving smoothly, receiving and entering logs of bills of lading and managing data for major national accounts
Responsibilities included sales, customer service, training and accurate inventory management.
Managed an independent leather goods retail outlet with a team of four sales associates to drive sales. Responsible for recruiting, training, setting sales budgets, merchandising and stock management
Led sales team to successfully achieve revenue targets
Strong analytical skills allowed implementation of cost effective staffing schedules
Devised efficient stock rotation and replenishment schemes to increase stock turn over and decrease missed sales opportunities
Prepared forecast plans, mark downs and visual merchandising schemes
Responsibilities included driving sales, visual merchandising, inventory management & creating press releases for effective communication of promotions to consumers.
Responsibilities included sales, customer service, merchandising & cash register management
Won cash prizes and special mentions at staff meetings for consistently exceeding sales quotas
Chosen to feature portfolio in annual graduate showcase, “Threads”
Awarded George Brown Fall, Spring, Winter bursaries and Entrance Bursary
Attended leading men’s buying fair Pitti Uomo as well as Pitti Filati and Milan Fashion Week
Attended PHARD SpA 2010 Fashion Show
Completed 3rd year of above undergraduate program (12 courses economics & philosophy of economics) at Erasmus University, Rotterdam NL under exchange program"
Fluent in English and French; proficient in Italian, Hindi and Punjabi"
Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite, Photoshop, Outlook, Microsoft Access, SPSS, MAC OS and Windows OS, Quickbooks, Scheme, JDA, BIS, SAS, Burning Glass, SN4P
Career includes demonstrated success in Forecasting, Research, Sales, Customer Service, Training, Merchandising, Inventory Management, PR and Analytics"
UK, US, Nederlands, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Indonesia, India, Iceland
Canada (all provinces#!
Tennis, played semi-professionally until 20
Sketching, Fashion Design, Pattern Drafting, Construction
Visual Arts, Digital & Analog Collage