Her Story
About Jody
I started in retail fresh out of high school, beginning in high-end luxury doing technical visual displays, which was more advanced than just dressing a mannequin - it involved lighting, fixtures, and signages along with the clothing aspect. I worked at prestigious brands like Barney's, Josie Couture, Ross Loren, and Alice and Olivia. At a company called Unique Him that specialized in silks, the owner Kim noticed I was more than just visual - I knew numbers really well - and promoted me to GM of a small location, then multiple locations, and eventually to a district manager role. I decided to transition to fast-paced retail to learn it from the bottom up, which is completely different from high-end luxury in terms of pace, employee count, and payroll. At Forever 21's SoHo location, I became GM and then senior GM, where I created the payroll formula that was used throughout all of Forever 21 stores. When growth opportunities stalled there, I was recruited by The Gap, where my father had worked for over 16 years as a visual manager and my godmother was a district manager. Now I run the 86th and 3rd Upper East Side location, which is a top 40 store and currently number 3 in the whole U.S. I also serve as the district loyalty captain overseeing 11 stores. My DM sees a path for me to join HQ in a more supervisory role for training and developing from a larger scope. What I'm most proud of is the people I've developed - everyone in my manager meetings has been an internal promotion from the store, and we're the only store in our district with that kind of bench strength.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jody
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say the resilience that I saw in my mom. She is such a tough cookie - that's literally her nickname. My mom had a stroke when I was younger, and they told me she was never gonna walk again, she was gonna be a vegetable. My mom was determined to prove everyone wrong, and right now, she is walking, she is talking. It's just she and I - I am engaged, but at the end of the day, we support each other. Seeing someone that is a woman of color, first generation (my mom is from Trinidad, my dad is from Venezuela), come here and kill it, and then unfortunately have a stroke, but the fact she can walk and talk when she went from not walking, not even knowing who I was - imagine going through all of that. I had to quit my job, so there's a gap of about a year or less of me not working, because I had to prioritize my mom. Once she was walking and talking, she was like, go back on the field, go back and work, I'll be alright, we'll be okay. My mom is the reason.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received was just to believe in yourself, even when no one else does, even when you don't believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. You always have to have faith - even when it feels like nothing is going through, you have to have faith and you have to believe in yourself, even when no one does. You have to have that confidence and be like, I can do it, I can do it, you will do it. You have to have that faith. If you don't have it, there's no way you're gonna win.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
When I say you always have to have faith, even when it feels like nothing is going through, you have to have faith and you have to believe in yourself, even when no one does. You have to have that confidence and you're like, I can do it, I can do it, you will do it. You have to have that faith. If you don't have it, there's no way you're gonna win. Being a woman alone in any industry is really hard. Being a person of color as well is also pretty hard. A lot of companies, the higher you go, the less color you see, or the less women you see. I would be the first, really, to be at that higher scope, and that's something I'm really working towards. I want others to see and know that it can be done - that's a possibility.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think just being a woman alone in any industry is really hard. Being a person of color as well is also pretty hard. A lot of companies, the higher you go, the less color you see, or the less women you see. This company is diverse - my DM is a woman, and her boss is also a woman, so it's great to see that. But as far as the diversity aspect of it, I would be the first, really, to be at that higher scope, and that's something I'm really working towards. I want others to see and know that it can be done - that's a possibility.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family. Every time someone comes to my store, even customers, if it's HQ or HR, they always say we have such a strong family dynamic. I'm very big and grounded on family values, and that just means integrity, that means love, that means having those tough conversations, having that comfortability, that vulnerability. It all drives back to family values, so 100% family. At the end of the day, you have to have the right people in the right place at the right time working together, and if they don't want to be there, you're not going to get the best done. I know that the talent was always there - you just have to have the right people, the right place, the right time to seek it and find it.
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