Her Story
About roxanne
I've been working in the retail field for about four years now, and visual merchandising is really my strong suit. I work for Marc Jacobs, where I focus on sales and overseeing the visuals of the stores. My day-to-day responsibilities include making sure the floor is presentable for customers, overseeing our KPIs and ADTs and sales goals for the day with my team, and leading the floor efficiently so everybody goes on break on time, everybody's hitting their sales goals, and we're merchandising to the customer. I'm currently about to graduate in two weeks from Portland State University, where I'm getting my bachelor's in Social Science with a minor in Psychology. My most notable professional achievement has been becoming a visual sales manager. I've always had a knack for merchandising, I just didn't really know how to execute it, and once I got put in that role, I see the retail store a lot differently. Even when I walk into different stores, I kind of see that everything's put out with a purpose, rather than just pushed out. My love for fashion in general always gravitated me toward retail, and I've just always loved shopping, so the idea of being able to work somewhere where I could shop really was my motivation.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with roxanne
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my parents, because I feel like I see them work hard constantly, and I think if I wouldn't have had that, I don't think I'd be working as hard, so for sure my parents. Watching them work hard has been my biggest motivation and has shaped my own work ethic throughout my career.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received is just kind of taking every opportunity as it comes, and not overthinking everything. I feel like sometimes you can get stuck overthinking, and you just end up not doing anything. If you just go with it, everything just always works out. This advice has helped me move forward in my career without getting paralyzed by indecision.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My best career advice that I would give would be to show up as yourself, and don't be too hard on yourself to try to fit in a certain role. It's important to be authentic and not force yourself into a mold that doesn't feel natural to you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
For challenges in retail, I would say the economy. I think there's been lots of changes and cuts all around, so I think just bigger problems that we can't really control, and we can only manage through. As for opportunities, I see the potential in having younger customers come in and be more engaged with our product, rather than having the idea that sometimes only true grown adults have money and they're the ones wanting to spend. I think just having the idea that there is a younger customer fan base, and Gen Z's only getting older, so it just shows that there's a new wave of generations coming by.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Most importantly would be having a sense of community, mostly in work, but also in my personal life. I feel like having community at work and having community with friends and family just makes everybody feel safer and better and want to show up for each other more. Another value would just be respect for everybody around you and the things around you. These values guide how I interact with my team and the people in my life.
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