Getting very excited to see Kathy Ireland speak at the Las Vegas licensing fair as the keynote speaker.

Her presentation titled from the beach to the boardroom will share her story of how she put away her bikini when her body was considered too old and put her brain to work instead creating a billion dollar licensing business which sees her name on more than 250,000 products sold worldwide.  She started out with a range of socks she figured if she could sell those she could probably sell a lot of other stuff.

Unlike Elle MacPherson who Ireland considers has pigeon-holded herself into lingere, Ireland was deliberately smart from the outset and chose products that were mass market, consumable and covered the whole spectrum to show how far her brand could stretch.  Any product that Ireland considers “helps makes women’s lives easier”  is up for grabs.

Licensing at the end of the day is a volume business and depends on mass markets to survive, so Ms Ireland has been very smart and successful to take mass products and market them to middle America. While being a little cagey about the figures it is public knowledge that Kathy outsells and earns more than her nearest competitor Martha Stewart .  Beauty and Brains and not a jailbird.

Click here to read the full article

Beyond excited.  Have been playing Jay-Z very loud.   People are asking me if I’m going for work or play.  It’s both.  I like Richard Branson’s quote when he says “work/ living it’s all the same to me”.  I feel exactly the same way.

I’m actually in NYC for a month first two weeks with Fiona Tomlinson, one of New Zealand’s preeminent photographers.  We are attending the licensing and publishing fairs as we both have creative projects we are working one involves a dolly and the other a dog called Otis!   While we are up there we have also been commissioned to write magazines articles on inspiring New Zealanders doing the business in the big apple and also the best places to shop and visit… see told you I love my work!    We are also photographing 5 dogs by iconic NYC icons this Sunday just for our own fun, so all you dog lovers be sure to check out the pics.

After Fiona heads home my bestie Lisa arrives to celebrate her 40th with me.  Feeling v Sex in the City about this part of the trip.

Only downer just found out that instead of being able to take two bags up to the states it is now only one!  Bum…. I’m also of course going to miss my dogs Teddy and Dunhill…. oh and Smunki aka Shane my partner of course but won’t think about that too much until tomorrow!

Right back to trying to squeeze two suitcase worth of clothes into one.  Lucky I’ve got this to listen to.

Mwah

Me

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