laura kappus: Owner/Curator in Charleston

As the founder of Urban Renewal Design, I consult for retail brands to assist in the sourcing process as well as curate luxury brands through my exclusive retail Urban Renewal Retail Pop Up Shop. Urban Renewal Design Retail Pop Up is an innovative & immersive way to shop emerging fashion brands. Featuring emerging sustainable designers and brands of women apparel and accessories. Finding the unique, one of a kind pieces while supporting small women-owned businesses. Many of the products are designed and made by artisans from around the world. • Operations Management, Tracking all inventory/sales/vendor invoices. • Using Temporary spaces to host an exclusive retail experience for shoppers. The "pop up" concept creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity of the brands featured. • Create collaborations with local businesses for brand activations • Weekly pop ups shops in the Intermountain West -Park City, Salt Lake City Jackson Hole, Sun Valley • The temporary nature of pop up shops can create a "fear of missing out" effect driving higher sales during the limited time in various locations. • Featuring KOKUN NYC cashmere as the foundation line at pop-ups. Negotiated consignment of all inventory with Kokun owner with a 50/50 split. • Design and merchandising of product collections • Annual pop up events over several years for the Sundance Film festival fManaging all sales, marketing, social media for Urban Renewal Design • Experience in all sales channels: wholesale, retail and E-commerce of fashion and brand development • Personal Stylist. Personal styling/shopping and closet assessment services. • Research new and unique international brands and establishing relationships for wholesale business. • Analyze sales to develop marketing plan to grow the business.

February 2033 • Hired as the first Director of Sales for non-profit fashion brand IBU Movement-global movement providing the means and the marketplace fro empower, through their apparel & accessories, into financial self-sufficiency. www.ibumovement.com , • Managed the retail store, e-commerce and trunk shows. • Managed sales and reporting for the King street showroom and online. Responsible for all operations for flagship retail store on King Street, the shopping district in Charleston grossing over $1 million annually. • Developed plans to meet sales targets. • Cultivated customers into donors of the Movement and raised over $110,000 in donations for the foundation in less than a year. • Collaborated with the Founder & our small team of 8 on prospecting and planning Trunk shows across the country. • Planned, packed, merchandised and executed 13 trunk shows around the country exceeding sales of $120 K in 6 months, (95% of these shows I executed solo). • Presented to guests at the trunk shows the IBU mission. • Implemented new inventory processes for organizing, storing and tagging merchandise. • Cleaned up the backend of the Shopify inventory system from 10 years of inventory. • Successfully recruited and managed the activities of 3 person staff, trained them in the Artisan collections from 40 countries, online order fulfillment, inventory management, pricing and merchandising. • Directed and supervised employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking and reconciling cash receipts. • Delivered excellent customer service by greeting and assisting each customer in educating them on the IBU Movement mission as well as selling them clothing. • Addressed customer inquiries and resolved complaints. • Improved service quality and increased sales by developing a strong knowledge of the artisan products services.

Park City, Utah Luxury Sales Management February 2019-2021 • Part of team of the retail team to launch We Norwegians a flagship store in Park City • Promoted & Educated the consumer on the We Norwegians brand of luxury merino wool apparel via in-store events and one on one personalized assistance. • Developed creative merchandising product assortments throughout the store. • Created content on social media: Instagram & Facebook for all Scandinavian Brands. • Fulfilled all online orders as well as managing customer service. • Created and managed events and pop ups for new product assortments to develop brand awareness and increase sales.

Helped launch a subscription- based luxury fragrance Scents of Wood Âme du Bois, www.scentsofwood.com (French name, means "Soul of Wood"), along side the founder, Fabrice Croise during the pandemic in 2020. • Scents of Wood box was a limited edition, 1-year subscription to share the discovery of new masterpieces of fragrance every month. Included fragrance with matching candle. • We would market and exceeded our 1000 subscriptions by 1400 in the first year.Managed the day to day operations solo to facilitate the filling of all orders: via pouring, packaging and shipping the subscription box to all subscribers. • Managed all online customer service. • Coordinated all outside shipping with third party shipping company & eventually created and managed the process of brining all shipping in-house • Created new partnerships with retailers: • Managed and executed all Pop Up shops for the brand at outside venues and hotels. • Hired and training 4 employees on the process from pouring, packaging and fulfillment.

• The RealReal, leading the way in authenticated luxury consignment online • Provided white-glove service in Utah as the only territory Sales Representative. • Met aggressive monthly goals for the territory. • Prospected & developed new relationships & connections with stylists, personal shoppers, boutique owners, sales associates, and individual consignors. • Catalogued and experience with Salesforce.com software. • Developed marketing strategies to expand consignment market in brand awareness • Cultivated clients for personal shopping and consignment business. • Managed over 150 accounts.

Reuse+Refashion+Restyle: A curated collection of designer & emerging brands as well as "previously enjoyed" women's clothing and accessories. • Entrepreneur. Developed and executed all aspects of a small retail boutique business. • Created a consignment boutique from ground up with Consignment Software • Creatively managed design of: Logo,, Website, Advertising, • Created all promotions, as well as social media outlets: Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. • Sourced and merchandised emerging brands • Extensive Apparel Industry knowledge including: Retail, Wholesale, and Merchandising. • Operation Management: Tracking all inventory/sales/consignor payouts.

• Developed and executed all aspects of an import apparel business from Bali. • Collaborated with the manufacturer in Bali to design, import, promote and sell the activewear & athleisure line via a multi-channel strategy. • Identified the athleisure market trend for women before it exploded. • Managed all sales, marketing & public relations efforts for the brand in both website creation, direct e-commerce business, individual sales, wholesale accounts. • Advertising & product placement in publications as well as social media outlets: Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. • Participated in local and national events • Business Development. Established wholesale relationships with renowned national yoga brands and studios: Baron, Exhale Spa, Bar Method Studio, Align Spa.

San Francisco, California & Park City, Utah Owner/Consultant ,