I am originally from New York where I attended college at the Fashion Institute of Technology. During my fourth year, I studied abroad in Florence, and I just absolutely fell in love with Italy. The program only lasted 4 months, and when it was time to go home, I promised myself I would return to live in Italy one day.
I finished school and started work as a buyer for a prestigious group of luxury retail stores. Fortunately, my work often brought me to Italy, and I had the opportunity to experience the country from a new perspective.
My employer had me start developing a private label collection of clothing for them in Italy, allowing me the chance to work directly with Italian manufacturers, gaining invaluable experience for my career. On one of my frequent trips to Florence, I met an American designer who was working on her namesake collection, backed by a large American fashion brand. When the designer asked me if I would consider moving from NYC to Florence to be her right hand and manage her product development, I knew I had found the once in a lifetime opportunity I was dreaming about. I shared my news with a longtime mentor from the industry, and he advised me against it- telling me ‘You’ll never grow’.
Flash forward 20 years and I am happily married with two amazing kids. I have built a successful career as a product development consultant for handbags and jewelry, working with the most prestigious names in the luxury fashion world. I could notbe happier, and while Italy has its challenges, finding my niche in a country rich in resources for the fashion industry has been my secret to success.
My husband, Filippo, also works in the fashion industry and we moved from the Florence area to Parma in 2008 just before I gave birth to our son. I wasn’t working at the time, having wrapped up a few freelance projects, but I started consulting shortly after he was born. Working as a consultant allowed me the flexibility I needed as a new mom, and when my son was about a year old My mom decided to move to Italy as well to help us out and to be near her only grandchild. Our daughter was born 6 years later, and we are happy to be raising them in Parma, a small city rich in culture and strategically located only an hour from Milan, an hour from the sea, and not too far from my husband’s family in Tuscany where we have a second home.
Over the years I have focused my business on helping foreign brands set up manufacturing for their accessories collections, many of the brands who contact me are startups without the knowledge of the industry and where to begin. I provide services of sourcing of materials, research of manufacturers and then manage all stages of development and production of their collection of handbags and jewelry. Having the opportunity to work directly with manufacturers for 20 years in Italy has given me the invaluable hands-on experience that is often sought out by foreign brands who don’t have offices here in Italy.
My advice to expats in Italy who are interested in building a career in Fashion is to choose an area and focus on a singular expertise, do your best to learn the language fluently, set up a LinkedIn page and start building a network of industry professionals. Don’t be afraid to reach out to others for advice and to offer your services in exchange for hands on experience.
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