Barbara Venner

I think being the oldest daughter, first generation, and being born and raised in Miami has a lot to do with me having no choice but to figure things out, be strong, keep it moving, and not dwell on little problems. If there's a problem, I fix it and I move on. It made me a problem solver. Having to be the family manager from a very young age has given me this confidence that I can do certain things, because I've had no choice but to do them.

Get out of my comfort zone. I tend to try to stay in my comfort zone just because it's worked for so long. But recently, I'm having to step out of it, and in the past, when I've had to step out of my comfort zone, something better happens. So I think getting out of your comfort zone, besides the regular stuff like work hard, but stepping out of your comfort zone is one that I've recently heard again and I've been kind of doing, and I think it's a good one.

Be confident. When you're out there traveling as a woman alone, you can feel insecure or scared or things like that, and I just feel like being confident in what you know and not being scared is important. Not being scared of different things, not being scared of people in different countries, or being in a cab. I'm never scared, so I guess I can't compare, but it's a common question that people don't understand how I can do what I do as a woman doing it alone, and I think it's because I'm confident in what I know and I'm not scared. I'm not scared of the world.

The world is kind of on fire at the moment. I ship from Europe, China, and the U.S., and shipping around the world has been a disaster. There's a lot of political tension, and even the banks and credits - where it's not affecting us so much here, but in other parts of the world, it is more complicated. Latin America has a lot of political issues. Every time there's a new president, it can either change everything or make it worse. A lot of my challenges have to do with what is happening in that country at the moment politically, and then around the world, whatever happens here does kind of affect that. It's never a smooth ride in 90% of my countries. Every day is a complex issue, or it's just a complex market. Maybe that's why I kind of enjoy it so much, because I've had opportunity to move to accounts like regular U.S. key accounts, and I think I would get bored having to deal with just a Bloomingdale's or a Nordstrom when I have all these countries and all their problems that I guess I enjoy figuring it out and fixing it and growing it.

I think trust is important - people being able to trust me and me being able to trust people. Kind people - I don't like working with people that are not kind in a professional or in a personal setting. I like people that are open to everything. I don't like very close-minded people, so I would say being open-minded is important to me, which has obviously helped for this particular role because you have to be open to different people and cultures and situations.