Her Story
About Jaine
My career in retail started unexpectedly after I graduated from college in 1984 and moved to New York. I saw an ad, answered it, and it turned out to be one of the best jobs I've ever had. The industry has changed a thousand percent since then - that job doesn't even closely exist today. I've bookended my career with two amazing positions, and now I'm winding down with another fantastic role that I'm incredibly proud of. Currently, I work as a retail buyer for a nonprofit organization, managing a tiny 1,100 square foot store that sits on Bureau of Land Management land in Las Vegas. We're only open 8 to 4:30, seven days a week, with just two full-time staff, yet we're breaking the 3 million mark in sales. What makes this different from any other buying job is that our visitors are typically there only one time - they're on vacation - and everything I buy has to be relevant to where we are. The products must feature indigenous plants, animals, and the landscape with interpretive messaging because we're trying to teach as well as sell. We're actually trying to save this little portion of the Earth and the plants and animals on it. Retail can be somewhat superficial at times, but this is not. We're creating memories and spreading educational messages about important issues like bee conservation. Right now, despite visitation to Las Vegas being down 7-15%, our sales are up 6-10%, which is something I take great pride in. We're part of the Public Lands Alliance, an organization that promotes saving our public lands. My day starts with reviewing sales figures, checking inventory, getting in touch with vendors, checking on shipping, and designing new products. The biggest challenge I face is the changing temperatures affecting my stock and sales projections - we keep beating last year's figures, and I'm constantly massaging what I'm ordering because there will be a tipping point at some point. But for now, we're booming in a brick-and-mortar situation, which you don't hear a lot of these days.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jaine
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My biggest advice is to be strong in who you are. Don't back down. Don't say things in a mean, derogatory way, but stand up for yourself. That is huge. I tell my youngest daughter this almost every day as she's dealing with some pretty strong male bosses - be strong, be strong in who you are. Be strong in your convictions and trust your gut. Your intuition is usually right, and I have learned that over the years, both professionally and personally. We second-guess ourselves, and you shouldn't. If something's going on and your intuition is saying something, there's a reason. There's a reason, so trust it. That would be my biggest advice - just trust yourself.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges I'm dealing with right now is just the changing temperatures and how that affects my stock and the sales projections. It's not a bad challenge, but it's a challenge because last year's figures become somewhat less relevant - they don't have as much impact because we keep beating them, and you don't know where that tipping point is going to be. When is it going to stop? So I'm constantly massaging what I'm ordering because there will be a tipping point at some point. It can't just keep going up at 8% and 10% every year. I want to have enough stock, but not too much, which is every buyer's dilemma. But a lot of times you can base it off of last year, and my last year's figures are just constantly increasing, so it's a challenge to know where that point is going to come. We can't advertise, we have to run on the schedule of the visitor center that we're in, so we're only open from 8 to 4:30, seven days a week. It's a little tiny store, 1,100 square feet, and we are breaking the 3 million mark in sales with two full-time people. But it will tip - it's gonna max out. We're just very aware of that. That's a big challenge.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I've said this forever and always told my daughters: you treat people as you want to be treated. It's very simple, but very hard to follow through with. I say it all the time - it's the golden rule. If everybody did the golden rule, we would have no problems. Try to always put yourself in the other person's shoes and don't jump too fast to conclusions, because you don't know what that person is going through. So take a deep breath, take a step back, and just be the bigger person. There's nothing in this life that's that big of a deal, to be quite honest.
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