We talk to Kathleen Mitchell, west London mother of two and Vice President for fashion brand Stella & Dot Europe. Stella & Dot launched here in Ireland a few months back and their mission to help give women the means to style their own lives is what drew Kathleen towards the company.
What is better than empowering women all over Europe to find true happiness and success through their own flexible fashion business. Prior to joining Stella & Dot, Kathleen led a division of the beauty giant L’Oreal. Alaskan born Kathleen loves living in London which has been home since she graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.
On the move, Kathleen is best when busy. Whether it is chatting to her son about word of the week as they scoot to nursery, racing to the Eurostar, visiting with Stylists around Europe, delighting our customers with irresistible style at a Trunk Show or logging a full day in the office with the brilliant Stella & Dot European team Kathleen is lucky to love it all.
What inspires Kathleen is her stylish friends and women she meets and works with every day, the 2000 + European Stella & Dot Stylists. They are entrepreneurs taking control of their own lives and doing it in style.
Kathleen finds confidence, kindness and a great pair of heels on a woman beautiful. What gets her up in the morning is her two sons that keep her curious and the mission to empower women all over Europe to find true happiness and success through their own flexible fashion business. She’s an eternal optimist and loves that she gets to help solve the modern woman’s dilemma: achieving success and balance through a career you love.
How did you become involved with Stella & Dot?
After graduating from Trinity in Dublin I spent 14 years at the beauty giant L’Oreal. I loved my career building beauty brands. When I heard about Stella & Dot I simply could not ignore the mission to give every woman the means to style her own life. Having just had my first baby I realised freedom was being able to control your own schedule. I also fell in love with the jewellery and knew there was a gap in the European market. I joined in 2011 as the Managing Director of the UK and now head up Europe.
Describe the brand in your own words.
Stella & Dot is a boutique-style jewellery and accessories line is available exclusively through in-home Trunk Shows by Independent Stylists and online. An Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Company, we are a social selling company that creates flexible entrepreneurial opportunities for women. Our CEO and founder Jessica Herrin had a vision to create a new kind of company that would offer today’s busy woman a career alternative. Jessica’s vision called for an entirely new concept that could guarantee women flexibility, reward, style, profit and fun. With an irresistible product and exceedingly personal service, a proven formula for passionate earning and personal success was born. We launched in the UK in 2011 and in Ireland in March 2014.
What’s your vision for the future and for the brand’s success in Ireland?
We have big goals and high hopes for Ireland. Our aim is to be the leading platform for flexible entrepreneurship for women as well as the ‘go-to’ brand for accessories. By the end of 2014 we hope to have created hundreds of jobs. After only a few weeks we already have 60 Stylists sharing the style.
What does a typical day involve?
I am extremely fortunate that not one day is the same. If I am at home in London it starts with breakfast with the kids, the school run and then I walk to work for 9:30am. When I am in the office I catch up with our European head office team and focus on how we can make our customer and stylist experience even better. The day ends with conference calls with our head office in San Francisco. I dash home to do bath & bedtime and have dinner with my husband. I generally have a trip a week to one of our other European markets Germany, France and of course Ireland. I spend as much time as I can with our Stylists and love doing Trunk Shows.
I imagine your role is quite fast paced, what do you love most about your job?
We are a hyper growth start up with big goals. So yes the pace is quick and I love it. There are so many aspects of my job that I love. I love working in fashion and believe that style in life is a necessity not a luxury. I have always been fascinated by technology and a bit of a geek. I am thrilled that I now have the chance to work with a world class tech team and I get to learn from the best every day. However the best part of my job is the fact that we are a people company. We love to delight our customers at every turn and help our Stylists to thrive and find their own success. I really have to pinch myself as I have got my dream job.
For more on Stella & Dot or to become a Stylist click here.
