Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
and this is a way for me to also that marketing and publishing in the business background
because I may or may not mentioned that I have an MBA also. Take all of those things,
put them into one, combined with my passion for the pet fashion industry and create the
association. Because for me with my background and having Tudy as my pug, as my muse, when
I was younger, for me it really is it's not just about being cutesy and dressing a dog and getting a
good laugh out of Facebook. For me it really is about that connection between a human and
an animal that is created through that humanization in that fashion that it's created for our
pets. It really comes from a deeper sense.
I love the pet industry. When I go to trade shows and conferences, it is so different from
other industries that I've attended tradeshows for. There is this passion. There's an entrepreneurial
spirit that I really enjoy. There are people in the industry that just love giving back.
There's a sense of community. It seems like every company, every person has started their
company for such an interesting reason and coming from a place of creating something
that they have found as a need possibly for their pets in their lives. I love that this
industry is one of giving back, something that we also intend to do with the International
Association of Pet Fashion Professionals.
My goal with the association is to make an amazing amount of people in the pet fashion
industry, amazingly successful and elevate the pet industry overall. Our tagline is "Unleashing
pet style one designer at a time." That's what I really truly want to do because I feel
like there are so many things that designers can learn from each other without necessarily
giving up any secrets or copyrights or trademarks. There are so many things that we can do together
as a community that really elevates the industry overall and helps the industry overall get
the media attention that it deserves, gives the foundation the credibility and standing
that really sometimes is necessary for an industry to kind of put a stake in the ground
and become known. That's my goal with the association is basically to be that conduit
for the elevation of the industry overall. I've done a lot of things to align the association
with people and entities that would bring credibility to the association and have been
a great support and great resources for the association. For example we have a book coming
out, the Pet Fashion Almanac and before publishing it we've sent it out to a lot of key people
in the industry to ask them what their input is, to get quotes from them, to find out what
their feelings are with the almanac and the perceptions that they have so that we made
sure that it is a quality piece of work that is valuable and is a useful resource and tool.
Along the way, every step along the way in creating the association, that's the type
of thing that we've been doing whether it's creating the pet fashion show and aligning
ourselves with Backer's Total Pet Expo for the pet fashion show, it creates a showcasing
opportunity; whether it's attending the classes at FIT, that's been an amazing resource there's
so many great people in the industry there. Talking with publications. Meeting with and getting the
input from people in other industry organizations like Women in the Pet Industry, that's been
a great camaraderie that organization also. It hasn't been something that's been
established in a vacuum. There really has been a lot of thought process and even surveys
along the way, private conversations with people, many, many hours I've spent on the phone
with people and on Skype finding what is your "why". Why is it you're doing what you're
doing? Getting the background in their stories and understanding really what are the things
that we need to do as an association to provide you with a leg up, to make you as successful as
we possibly can because that really is my goal. I know that there's a need for the International
Association of Pet Fashion Professionals and what we can provide whether it's some of our
mindset training, whether it's our business bits that we'll do every month, whether
it's just having a place to "call home" where you can network with people but at the same
time go let out steam or innovate and create ideas with each other. Providing tools like
the Pet Fashion Almanac is coming out at the end of August. Creating showcasing opportunities.
This is something that we're doing this year in Chicago with Backer but I really want to
do this on a worldwide scale to create an international stage for people in the pet
fashion industry and to bring that attention to the industry overall. I hope this has given
you an idea of my vision, given you some insight into me personally and why I'm starting the
association, let you know a little bit about my background. I'm pretty much like an open
book. People can ask me anything. It's very rare that it's something that I wouldn't
answer. I'm not easily offended. That's what I invite you to do. Please get online. Call
me on the phone. Give me your input. Tell me what your thoughts are with the association
or even just with the pet industry overall because I truly am here basically to be that
resource and like I said be that conduit for success for people in the pet
fashion industry and for the association overall. Thank you for joining me and I do hope that
you will be able to tune in for the rest of the summit because all the interviews, they were
amazing and they will provide you with a lot of education, a lot of insights, a lot of
learning opportunity there. I do hope that you find the time to take a listen to all
of the interviews that are going on during the summit today and make sure you join me
at the very end for our official launch at about 4PM on August 8th - yeah, I got that right - because I really truly
love having the energy of a group there as a celebration of the launch of the International
Association of Pet Fashion Professionals.