Her Story
About Michaela
Michaela Criniti is a marketing and business development leader with over a decade of experience spanning advertising, interior design, and retail. She started her career in advertising working with Fortune 500 companies, gaining a strong foundation in client services and omni-channel branding across multiple countries. Driven by passion, she pivoted into interior design for four years, which ultimately led her to Crate and Barrel Holdings. There, she returned to marketing, leading efforts in furniture, decor, textiles, and high-profile collaborations. She was later pulled to help build the B2B team across Crate and Barrel, Crate and Barrel Kids, CB2, and Hudson Grace, where she led strategic partnerships, including work with all Chicago sports teams. She recently departed the company at the end of June and is now consulting independently. Michaela attributes her drive to a relentless pursuit of personal and professional growth, valuing vulnerability and the freedom to try new things, fail, and learn. She advises young women to keep choosing joy and to do it scared, emphasizing that growth comes from moving forward even when uncertain.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michaela
01What do you attribute your success to?
I just love growing. I really do, and I think the people I look up to in my career are people that aren't afraid to be vulnerable, aren't afraid to show who they are as a human being. I have always attributed to my drive and my relentlessness of this, like, relentless chase for growth. And it's hard when you have titles, and monetary incentives, like, there's so many factors that go affect kind of what people consider as growth, but I feel like if you are growing as a person and as a professional, that is, like, all I ever want is the freedom to grow, and keep pushing, and trying things, and failing, and picking it back up, and trying it again.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Keep choosing joy. We spend so much time of our lives in work, and I am a person that I come to work excited every day. It's a choice, a real mindset flip that I had to do early on of, like, okay, I am in charge of joy, and I have to find it. It's not going to find me. And do it scared. I was petrified to leave this Crate & Barrel job, but ultimately I can't sustain this work and also launch into getting married and continue to grow professionally how I wanted to. You can only learn if you keep moving forward and trying different things.
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