Lately, No. 1

Team growth, Charleston happenings, tennis mornings, and India bound

I love the opportunity to write at the end of the week and reflect on everything that went into it, so the weeks don’t just blur together.

Two new positions at minnow

Last week we hired two new roles for our team.

The first is a Content Strategist, who sits within our brand and creative team but works very closely with ecommerce. This role is responsible for shaping the strategy behind our content. This role is developing the concepts, scripts, and storytelling that guide what we’re putting out into the world.

They work closely with our planner (who manages our SKU buys and inventory), our ecommerce team (who brings the business analytics and performance insights from the website), and merchandising (who shares the product roadmap and the cadence of new collections and capsules). All of that collaboration informs what we’re talking about and sharing with our community.

This role isn’t actually creating the content—it’s concepting it. It’s really an editorial position: crafting the brand’s storytelling through copy, scripts, ideas, and narrative.

We also hired a Head of Wholesale, which feels like a big and exciting step. It’s a role we’ve talked about for years, but we’ve been very intentional about when and how to grow this channel.

As our women’s category has expanded, it feels like the right time to increase our mindshare through thoughtful retail partnerships, another form of brand marketing, really, to help demonstrate that we are more than children’s swim. There is so much opportunity here, but because we hold our brand equity so precious this growth will be strategic. More is not always more. Alignment with our retail partners is everything.

After spending the past 10 years investing in our brand and our owned channels (our website and stores), wholesale feels like the right place to focus on growth. Let’s go!

A big week for Shopbop in Charleston

It was also a fun week in Charleston with Shopbop in town, activating the city left and right to promote their one-week pop-up on King Street.

I was honestly so impressed with their team and their seamless execution of what felt like a dozen events happening all at once. I attended a private shopping preview hosted by my friend and stylist Kensey Adair, a kickoff cocktail party at The Nickel Hotel with Veronica Beard, and a dinner at Leon’s Oyster Bar with Faherty, all in partnership with Shopbop.

Because I’m very familiar with producing brand events and everything that goes into both the concept and execution stages, I was even more impressed by the way their team delivered. Every detail felt buttoned up. Every box ticked and tied. That’s hard to pull off, especially when so much is happening in one week.

You could say, well it’s Amazon, they have a huge team and big budgets. But I’d argue that a big team doesn’t always mean seamless execution. If anything, it requires even stronger organization and communication. Every team member I met seemed genuinely excited, happy, unassuming, and completely on top of things. Well done, Shopbop!

Thursday morning tennis

This past year I have been playing tennis on Thursday mornings, and it has become one of my favorite parts of the week. After dropping the kids at school and before starting the workday, it feels so good to not just be exercising—but playing.

As mothers, we pour so much into our kids’ sports schedules season after season. So there’s something freeing about saying, wait… I’m going to play too! I genuinely look forward to Thursday mornings now, and the hope is to play even more in the future. This is a tennis silhouette that I recently bought, a spring staple I can see getting lots of wear.

A work trip to India

This week, with my production director, we booked a trip to India! We are headed to New Delhi to visit one of our factories. We are also going to head to Jaipur for development and sourcing inspiration. I am so excited, I am looking at this hotel and also this one. Too many palaces to choose from! I heard this one was incredible too! I would love recommendations for those that have been to the pink city.

I have been to Southern India, Chennai, when I was 20 for a humanitarian project. We worked with leprosy-affected people, helping them rebuild their lives by facilitating micro-lending solutions for their small businesses. It was the biggest jolt in my life, up until that point, that never left me. I am thrilled to see what this next trip brings from such an enriching country. I am also looking forward to seeing my off-the-beaten path sense of adventure return. While I do enjoy luxury travel experiences, I am a resourceful gal, that can hang….