Time in Retail
Well let's start at the beginning. It was September, 2016 when Brandon and I were walking though the newly remodeled Livermore Outlets (now called San Francisco Premium Outlets). As we were walking I noticed a beautiful styled suit in the window of a store that read “Ted Baker” at the top and so I had to check it out. When we walked in I was completely blown away from the prints on the dresses to the rack of mens sports coats. At the time, I didn’t have much experience with high fashion so seeing a button up shirt go for $95 (outlet price) was a bit of a surprise for me. As we began to walk out, a lady walked up to us. She told us her name was Jackie and asked how we were doing and if we were finding everything okay. She then told us she was the store manager and was currently looking for new hires. Keep in mind I was working at McDonalds, so I jumped at the offer! Within a couple days, I had sat down for an interview and by the end of the week I was called back to start on Monday!
When working at the outlets I was only present weekdays because I was still at my first job committing to 4am to 12pm shifts on the weekend. All the while starting my first year of college (yeah, I don’t know why either). Although my time was filled, I loved working at the Outlets. I actually enjoyed going to work everyday, working with clothes and selling to customers. Until it happened, Black Friday came. From never working a weekend at the store to now working the busiest day of the year was terrifying, not to mention that my shift was 11pm to 7am. In retrospect, it actually turned out to be more fun and exciting than I had ever anticipated. The local news station even caught a part of me in their segment of Black Friday at the Outlets. Eventually I quit McDonalds to focus on Ted Baker and school, while also bringing on a couple friends to join the Ted team. By the following September, I had moved up to full-time and became a key-holder (“I was Ted Baker”). By the end of the year, Jackie had been transferred to manage the San Francisco Ted locations, and while she was gone, I held this responsibility for almost a year before I too, was asked to follow her there.
Ted Baker was set to open up a new pop-up location in the heart of the city, Union Square, San Fransisco. I was chosen to help lead the next generation of Ted Brand Ambassadors for this new location. Jackie and I spent about two weeks in a posh hotel conference room where we met and started training the new team members. From there, we moved into hands-on training in the original SF location. After basic training, we moved to a warehouse location to unbox and process all of the new products for the store’s grand opening. We went over every little detail that was necessary for this grand opening so it would be perfect, from how to hang up the clothes to how to process shipments. By the time we were done at the warehouse, the store was finally constructed enough for us to begin the on-site preparations. From here, we stocked the backroom, finalized the store lay-out, and finished up any last minute training. Ted Baker representatives from all over the Ted world came in to help with the opening. I was able to meet and make connections with a lot of the VIP’s from the New York location (who would later help me get to The City for the first time on my own). The day came, and the grand opening was a success! The first day was a private soft opening for the San Francisco Ballet members. There was a violinist and even waiters that passed around champagne. The whole thing was an amazing experience!
While working in San Francisco I started diving deeper into the company. I realized I was a huge fan of the personal relations side of operations and started looking into becoming the PR rep for the San Francisco area. The two main PR reps for the United States were based in Los Angelas and New York, both of which I met during the process of the store opening, so after researching more about PR and having a conversation with my area manager, I reached out to both ladies. They were both so kind and agreed on helping me, even though their schedules were already packed, and since they were so far away I was able to give them a better insight on where we could take advantage in the San Francisco area. I started out by researching all of the major events and conferences that were coming up in the area and how we could capitalize on them to market our store. After solidifying a couple ideas with the help of the PR team, we came up with promotions to run for each event. At the same time, I was reaching out to neighboring hotels to see if they would want to use Ted Baker clothing as they're staffs uniforms. I was able to sit down with a couple different locations and even got to pick out the outfits for there staff!
Now if you remember from my Why New York blog, Brandon, Rayna and I all had tickets to New York during the time of Black Friday. This is the busiest time of the year so getting this day off was right next to impossible. However, since I had been doing a lot of work with the PR team in New York, I was able to make a deal to go and learn under the team while I was out there. The morning of my meeting I walked from Time Square to the SOHO district, which was roughly around 3 miles. Arriving to the meeting I was super excited and quite nervous. I had no idea what to expect or even what I was going to learn but I knew I was ready. The PR lady that I had been emailing (we will call her Lizzy) walked me through the store into the marketing office. It was like I was in a movie. There was one long table that had chairs all around it with individual computers for each station. I sat down next to Lizzy at her station as she introduced me to everyone sitting down. She then took me through the daily life of a PR member and even mentioned upcoming marketing strategies that they were coming up with. After we finished we grabbed some umbrellas and walked over to a coffee shop where I was free to ask any questions I liked. We talked about how she started and moved her way up to head of PR and any advice she has for me. After the meeting concluded, I left feeling grateful and somewhat accomplished.
After three years of working at Ted I half-heartedly left the company. I now work as a bartender for the flexibility of hours, cash in hand and return of time invest. I did this knowing it would be advantageous for my travel schedule throughout the year as well as optimal opportunity to build our brand and create for myself. Leaving my Ted family was tough but my 4 hour commute started taking a toll on me and I knew it was time to figure out my next steps and future. My time at Ted taught me many lessons throughout the years, from fashion to marketing, to elevated communication and selling skills. I never knew how much I even liked fashion until I was fully invested in it. Moving forward I’ve come to realize that fashion is my calling. Lizz’s words still echo in my head, about how a kid all the way across the country is being mentioned in important conversations. As the great Chance the Rapper says, “I was not made for this, this was made for me”.
With Love,
Brandon
