Carol Palynchuk had the idea of starting a new clothing company, focused on the needs of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Shortly after meeting Carol I came on board as the startup managing director, to help over see the daily operations required to launch the brand.

Beginning with a market and competitor review, I then set upon building the company. This required daily hands-on engagement to build a brand platform, all brand elements, supporting documents, media, and designing and implementing a Shopify website to allow for in-person and web sales. Product photography and creating renders of visual product before a sample was made, plus planning what events to attend and then attending the event in-person to sell product and promote the brand was all part of the daily support required for the startup.

In addition to the marketing and brand support, it was also my job to oversee the product development and manufacturing of products. The meant daily communications with designers, vendors, pattern drafters, shipping and logistics. Once product arrived, I was also the lead on identifying retail vendors and creating relationships that led to product being sold in retail stores.

After a year of hands on support and leadership, the brand and company was stable, and I could hand over the reigns to Carol, who could easily take on the operations and run her new company.