Retail in America Ron Thurston

Welcome to RETAIL IN AMERICA!
This podcast is part of The RETAIL IN AMERICA tour, my year-long journey to discover incredible retail heroes all across the country, celebrating our retail culture, community, and careers. Go to retailpride.com or IG @retail pride to see it all, including past podcast episodes, playlists, and future cities on tour.
Today I am LIVE from the Airstream in Palm Springs, California, with Joe Lopardi, the Director of Retail for the iconic brand TRINA TURK
Joe prides himself on building and retaining dynamic teams at all levels, being a company culture proponent, leveraging an elevated event strategy to benefit local charities and non-profits, and delivering positive results. He is a people-centric leader who values his relationships with internal and external clients.
He has pioneered client development programs, led teams through the construction of mission, vision, and value statements, and is leading his present team to deliver the strongest net sales results in company history this year.
When he is not making market visits with his teams and clients, he is working on restoring a 1930s bungalow he recently purchased with his fiancée in Los Angeles, CA.
Contact me directly here to nominate a retail hero for this podcast, host a retail networking or book signing event in your city, or say hello.
Keep your retail pride strong, and I will see you on the road!
The RETAIL IN AMERICA podcast team includes:
Producer Roi Perets
Audio Engineer Dean Albak
Cover Image shot by Duke Winn
A huge thank you to the three title sponsors fueling the RETAIL IN AMERICA tour and this podcast. 
Spotify Advertising Spotify is the #1 podcast platform in the US and has grown to over 420M monthly unique registered users around the globe, over half of which are supported on the ad platform. Spotify advertising will help you reach and target your audience across devices, locations, and formats. 
YOOBIC  is a Frontline Employee Experience Platform. It’s an all-in-one mobile app that provides Retail leaders and their frontline teams with inclusive communications, mobile learning, and digitized task management - all in the flow of work.
KWI is the industry's only true turnkey omni-channel platform for specialty retailers.
With over 35 years of experience, let KWI help you execute flawlessly with the features that matter most, including endless aisle, clienteling, mobile checkout, inventory management, e-commerce, and more. 

Welcome to RETAIL IN AMERICA!
This podcast is part of The RETAIL IN AMERICA tour, my year-long journey to discover incredible retail heroes all across the country, celebrating our retail culture, community, and careers. Go to retailpride.com or IG @retail pride to see it all, including past podcast episodes, playlists, and future cities on tour.
Today I am LIVE from the Airstream in Malibu, California, with Bree Jacoby, the founder and CEO of BREE.
Bree Jacoby is an LA-based entrepreneur, stylist, founder, and all-around powerhouse - and if you work in any capacity in sales or retail, you will want to experience this conversation!
Bree and I go way back and have done several things together that we'll talk about, and as she says, "fashion and entrepreneurship are in my blood."
As a Los Angeles native who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, she is passionate about trailblazing the style space by making luxury more attainable and empowering people to be their best.
Her company's mission is to transcend what to wear by revolutionizing how people get dressed and sparking a more personal, confident relationship with style for everyone.
By streamlining what you already own, curating purposeful purchases, and digitizing polished looks, you reduce stress, wasted time, and guesswork to make dressing well a whole lot more fun and BREEzy for you!
Please enjoy the episode, and a big thank you to the three title sponsors fueling the RETAIL IN AMERICA tour and this podcast.
Spotify Advertising is the #1 podcast platform in the US and has grown to over 420M monthly unique registered users around the globe, over half of which are supported on the ad platform. Spotify advertising will help you reach and target your audience across devices, locations, and formats.
YOOBIC is a Frontline Employee Experience Platform. It's an all-in-one mobile app that provides Retail leaders and their frontline teams with inclusive communications, mobile learning, and digitized task management - all in the flow of work.
KWI is the industry's only true turnkey omnichannel platform for specialty retailers.
With over 35 years of experience, let KWI help you execute flawlessly with the features that matter most, including endless aisle, clienteling, mobile checkout, inventory management, e-commerce, and more.
Contact me directly here to nominate a retail hero for this podcast, host a retail networking or book signing event in your city, or say hello.
Keep your retail pride strong, and I will see you on the road!
The RETAIL IN AMERICA podcast team includes:
Producer Roi Perets
Audio Engineer a href="https://www.deanalbak.com/"...

Welcome to RETAIL IN AMERICA!
This podcast is part of The RETAIL IN AMERICA tour, my year-long journey to discover incredible retail heroes all across the country, celebrating our retail culture, community, and careers. Go to retailpride.com or IG @retail pride to see it all, including past podcast episodes, playlists, and future cities on tour.
Kit Campoy is a retail leader turned freelance writer and one of the most prominent voices for frontline retail teams on LinkedIn.
After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Merchandising, she wanted nothing to do with retail management and had aspirations of being a stylist on photo shoots. 
Then, a funny thing happened; she realized that she was good at leadership and liked it.
A move to San Diego landed her at Old Navy. A two-story behemoth where she was hired to plan shipments/merchandise, then a transition to PacSun, where she learned retail leadership 101. She quickly moved to a Store Manager position and worked for the company for five years.
A jump to Lucky Brand, then Anthropologie, and finally, Tilly's Store Manager, Carlsbad, at the Forum for nine years. Running that building with hundreds of people over the years and close partnerships with vendors and leaders at the home office was the honor & privilege of her career. 
She ultimately left retail in February 2022 and is now a solo entrepreneur who does freelance writing and ghostwriting and writes two weekly newsletters. You can find her on LinkedIn daily, advocating for retail leaders and frontline employees. 
You can connect with Kit on LinkedIn, DeSo, and Twitter. Give hustle-culture a break, and join her weekly newsletter Traveling Money and Kit writes personal essays on Medium. 
Thank you to the three title sponsors fueling the RETAIL IN AMERICA tour and this podcast. 
Spotify Advertising is the #1 podcast platform in the US and has grown to over 420M monthly unique registered users around the globe, over half of which are supported on the ad platform. Spotify advertising will help you reach and target your audience across devices, locations, and formats. 
YOOBIC  is a Frontline Employee Experience Platform. It's an all-in-one mobile app that provides Retail leaders and their frontline teams with inclusive communications, mobile learning, and digitized task management - all in the flow of work.
KWI is the industry's only true turnkey omnichannel platform for specialty retailers.
With over 35 years of experience, let KWI help you execute flawlessly with the features that matter most, including...

Welcome to RETAIL IN AMERICA!
This podcast is part of The RETAIL IN AMERICA tour, my year-long journey to discover incredible retail heroes all across the country, celebrating our retail culture, community, and careers. Go to retailpride.com or IG @retail pride to see it all, including past podcast episodes, playlists, and future cities on tour.
This conversation was recorded live in our Airstream in San Diego, CA, with Tony Drockton, Founder and self-proclaimed Chief Cheerleader of Hammitt, a genuine American luxury brand based in Los Angeles.
A lifelong entrepreneur, beginning with an MBA from Bowling Green in his home state of Ohio, Tony established his pattern of success early, through his start-ups in the construction and finance industries, before moving into this crazy fashion business.
Tony took the reins at Hammitt in 2008, overseeing its transformation from a best-kept hometown secret to a digital and retail phenomenon.
Tony is a philanthropist, speaker, mentor, and lifelong entrepreneur, but mostly, he loves experiencing the zest and wonder of life and brings all of that to this conversation. Enjoy! 
A huge thank you to the three title sponsors fueling the RETAIL IN AMERICA tour and this podcast. 
Spotify Advertising Spotify is the #1 podcast platform in the US and has grown to over 420M monthly unique registered users around the globe, over half of which are supported on the ad platform. Spotify advertising will help you reach and target your audience across devices, locations, and formats. 
YOOBIC  is a Frontline Employee Experience Platform. It’s an all-in-one mobile app that provides Retail leaders and their frontline teams with inclusive communications, mobile learning, and digitized task management - all in the flow of work.
KWI is the industry's only true turnkey omni-channel platform for specialty retailers.
With over 35 years of experience, let KWI help you execute flawlessly with the features that matter most, including endless aisle, clienteling, mobile checkout, inventory management, e-commerce, and more. 
Contact me directly here to nominate a retail hero for this podcast, host a retail networking or book signing event in your city, or say hello.  
Keep your retail pride strong, and I will see you on the road!
The RETAIL IN AMERICA podcast team includes:
Producer Roi Perets
Audio Engineer Dean Albak
Cover Image shot by Duke Winn

Welcome to RETAIL IN AMERICA!
This podcast is part of The RETAIL IN AMERICA tour, my year-long journey to discover incredible retail heroes all across the country, celebrating our retail culture, community, and careers. Go to retailpride.com or IG @retail pride to see it all, including past podcast episodes, playlists, and future cities on tour.
This is a very entertaining episode because we are not recording in the Airstream; we are live in the design studio for WiesMade in Napa Valley, CA because I wanted to see the roots of the operation - and it's literally a historic barn behind Nic's home! 
Nic Wiessler didn't start his career as the founder of the premium denim and knitwear brand WiesMade. Because before he was even considering launching his brand, he was a very successful retail leader for over 20 years with some of the country's most exciting and innovative companies. 
It started at GAP, where he ran the stock room at his local store. When Nic graduated college, he took on other leadership roles in retail with Lucky Brand and later as the District Manager in Northern California for Restoration Hardware (RH). In 2009 he took on a DM role with Cole Haan and ultimately became the Head of Retail, overseeing 90 stores as they de-coupled from Nike. 
Nic joined me at Bonobos in 2014 as part of a team that built it from a scrappy small group of 10 stores into a large 42-store fleet. Most recently, he was in the Director of Retail role at Guideboat, where he spent time in the design room working with their lux outdoor apparel line. 
After two years of work, he will launch his brand WiesMade this month, which exclusively sources every piece from "dirt to denim" in the USA, and Nic is now working directly with two mills to develop his own fabrics for his brand.
Nic is a Northern California native, went to school at Sonoma State University, and enjoys everything the beauty of the Northern California coast has to offer, including free diving, spearfishing, and surfing. 
Enjoy the episode, and please support Nic as he launches his new brand by subscribing at https://wiesmade.com
A huge thank you to the three title sponsors fueling the RETAIL IN AMERICA tour and this podcast: 
Spotify Advertising Spotify is the #1 podcast platform in the US and has grown to over 420M monthly unique registered users around the globe, over half of which are supported on the ad platform. Spotify advertising will help you reach and target your audience across devices, locations, and formats. 
YOOBIC Over 300 companies in 80 countries trust YOOBIC to drive their retail performance at scale, get real-time visibility into multi-location business execution, digitized task management, and more. 
KWI is the industry's only true...

Welcome to RETAIL IN AMERICA!
This podcast is part of The RETAIL IN AMERICA tour, my year-long journey to discover incredible retail heroes all across the country, celebrating our retail culture, community, and careers. Go to retailpride.com or IG @retail pride to see it all, including past podcast episodes, playlists, and future cities on tour.
This is an extraordinary episode filled with incredible takeaways from my great friend, Ted Harrington.
Ted has many titles, including the #1 best-selling author of HACKABLE, the Tech Done Different podcast host, and the Executive Partner at Independent Security Evaluators (ISE), the company of ethical hackers famous for hacking cars, medical devices, web applications, and password managers. Ted and his company have helped hundreds of companies fix tens of thousands of security vulnerabilities, including Google, Amazon, and Netflix.
Ted has been featured in over 100 media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Forbes. His team also founded and organizes IoT Village, an event whose hacking contest is a three-time DEF CON Black Badge winner.
And just last month, he delivered his first TedTalk!
But most importantly, he’s a man with great wisdom that he generously shared with me as we sat together a recent morning while the Airstream was parked in Malibu.
Don’t miss this conversation, as you may discover you’re a hacker too!
A huge thank you to the three title sponsors fueling the RETAIL IN AMERICA tour and this podcast:
Spotify Advertising Spotify is the #1 podcast platform in the US and has grown to over 420M monthly unique registered users around the globe, over half of which are supported on the ad platform. Spotify advertising will help you reach and target your audience across devices, locations, and formats. 
YOOBIC Over 300 companies in 80 countries trust YOOBIC to drive their retail performance at scale, get real-time visibility into multi-location business execution, digitized task management, and more. 
KWI is the industry's only true turnkey omni-channel platform for specialty retailers.
With over 35 years of experience, let KWI help you execute flawlessly with the features that matter most, including endless aisle, clienteling, mobile checkout, inventory management, e-commerce, and more. 
The RETAIL IN AMERICA podcast team includes:
Producer Roi Perets
Audio Engineer a...