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At the Exceptional Women Alliance, we empower high-level women to mentor one another, encouraging personal and professional fulfillment through meaningful connections. This month, I am delighted to interview Marissa Andrada, culture master and kindness catalyst at the firm bearing her name. Marissa shares her valuable insights on all things fashion, empowerment, and the importance of self-expression in the workplacewhy dressing confidently is about who you are, not just what you wear. Q: How has your personal relationship with fashion evolved alongside your career growth? Marissa Andrada: Early in my career, the companies I worked in had a power profile, e.g. a language to use, a certain style of clothing to wear. I was coached to adapt to this power profile as a way of fitting in and making it. I felt like I could only show up as a small part of me and it impacted my ability to bring my full self to work. I had to carefully curate my outfits each day. Because I wasnt dressing authentically, it became exhausting to get ready every morning, overthinking how not to be too much. However, navigating that phase taught me so muchit helped me to build resilience, reinforce my personal values, and deepen my understanding of how culture shapes belonging. Today, I intentionally create and advocate for cultures that embrace authenticity and celebrate individual style. I can now use my experience to empower others and help evolve workplace fashion norms and labels. I have seen firsthand the impact of connection through style and self-expression. Q: Many people feel pressure to dress the part at work. What advice would you give someone trying to stay authentic while navigating professional expectations? Andrada: If you are in a culture with a specific dress code that feels limiting, look for small and personally meaningful ways to express your individuality. For example, sport a pair of funky socks that only you can see, rock a statement ring, wear your favorite drop earrings, a cool watch, special belt, or your post-gym ponytail (sans Nikes). The key is to find little moments of joy and self-expression even within the boundaries of a formalized dress code. The small touches will remind you and those around you of who you are. Pro tip? Gamify the experience each dayhave fun with it. Q: In your experience, how does feeling good in what you wear impact how you show up as a leader? Andrada: Oh wow, this is a great question because, when you show up for yourself, when YOU feel good, it radiates through everything you dohow you walk and carry yourself, how you talk and greet others, how you inspire those around you, and how you lead. Feeling good transforms your energy. Feeling confident in your appearance is not about aesthetics, it is about ownership and honoring yourself. When you can do that for yourself, it gives permission for others to do the same. Q: How can organizations better embrace and support authentic self-expression through fashion in the workplace? Andrada: It starts with leadership. Culture is a reflection of leadership. When leaders set the tone and lead by example, it has a ripple effect on the rest of the team and ultimately the organization. It is about values and outcomes, not conformity. When companies create true cultures of belonging, dress codes naturally evolve and allow more room for authentic self-expression. When employees feel seen, accepted, and empowered, they will perform at their best, and that includes how they express themselves through style. Q: Who or what inspires your approach to fashion, style, and leadership today? Andrada: I am inspired daily by life itself. Each day is a new opportunity for me to discover something or someone new, whether its a new designer or a future business leader. My regular interactions always lead to new energy and inspire my approach to fashion, style, and leadership. I love the creativity of using what I wear as an extension of my energy. While I follow whats happening on the runway, I am equally inspired by street fashion. I love a high-low combo too as it reflects my perspective on leadershipbeing bold but remaining real. A touch of aspiration while being relatable and attainable. Q: What advice would you give your younger self about fashion, work, and self-confidence? Andrada: I would tell her that it will get easier and to continue to follow and lead with heart. Your style is an expression of you and your true spirit, and you should never have to hide that but embrace and celebrate it in the ways you can at any given moment. Confidence isnt about being fashionable, its about being true to yourself. Through Marissa, its clearly visible that fashion isnt just about clothes, and if you saw her in person you would know what I mean! It is about confidence, identity, connection, and empowerment. Through style and spirit, we can create cultures of inclusion and vibrancy. Larraine Segil is founder, chair and CEO of the Exceptional Women Alliance.
Category:
E-Commerce
The energy has shifted in 2025. You can feel it too, right? AI used to be this shiny side project, something people would experiment with in their spare time. Theres been a massive change. AI is now baked into the way work gets done. Some people like myself have run with it, attempting to automate their entire workflow and educate their teams on the many dos and donts. Others are still staring at their screens and wondering where to start. The gap between those two groups is growing, and quickly. I have a secret to share, and this is where most people get it wrong: Closing the gap isnt about becoming a tech genius. Its about staying curious and getting scrappy. The AI skills gap is widening, but heres a game plan to keep up. 1. Build AI fluency, not just prompt tricks The first step to building AI fluency is learning how to prompt a chatbot. This is exactly where my own team began with our agencys weekly AI training program, coined Thursd-AI (very clever, I know). In this stage, you build your skillset and learn what AI can actually do across your workflow, and how to structure your asks to get meaningful results. Its not a magic command per se, more of a collaboration mindset. And heres a pro tip: You can actually ask your AI chatbot how can I improve this prompt to get a more accurate/more detailed response?and it will tell you! 2. Pick one workflow and start automating Dont overhaul everything at once. Start with one task you do often (summarizing docs, writing content, analyzing feedback) and let AI take a pass. Then refine it. The more you experiment with this, the faster youll get a feel for whats possible, and whats most realistic for you. 3. Follow the builders, not just the headlines The news is relentlessly covering AI, but that doesnt mean these stories are always packed with value. The real insights, the kinds that will make you stand out, are not in the stories with catchy headlines. Seek out case studies, tutorials, and demos from people are using AI in the wild. Follow technologists, no-code tinkerers, indie hackers, the companies making it happen, and people sharing real, tactical ways to apply AI today. A great place to start is OpenAI News, Google AI News, AI Foundations on YouTube, and Quantiouss Weekly Tech Roundup (yes, a shameless plug for my agencys tech newsletter). 4. Make AI a daily habit The people staying ahead arent just using AI occasionally, theyre working with it every day. That means brainstorming with ChatGPT, creating reports with Perplexity, or turning text-to-image with Canva. Youve likely heard this once, and Ill say it again; You need to treat AI as a team member. 5. Focus on what AI cant replace For now, ignore the news saying that AI is going to make us dumb. AI is not meant to make us lazy, its meant to allow us to take charge of our projects and our lives and empower us to be more powerful, more effective, and more creative. AI cannot replace soft skills, creative instincts, and emotional intelligencethis is where you come in. The more that AI handles the grunt work, the more you are empowered to use these skills. Use AI to buy back your time, and use that time to get better at being you. Use your critical thinking skills, trust your instincts, and embrace your human curiosity and creativity, while AI handles the little details. You know, the little details that used to leave you in a time crunch and keep you from being your fully present, creative self. The AI fluency gap isnt about who knows the most, its about who is willing to put in the work learning by trial and error. Youre never going to find a one-size-fits-all approach with AI. Stop waiting on a roadmap, and start building your own. In just a few months, youll be amazed at how much youve learned and how far youve come. The biggest risk here is sitting still. If youre still reading this, youre further along than you think. Lisa Larson-Kelley is founder and CEO at Quantious.
Category:
E-Commerce
On this weeks episode of The Most Innovative Companies Podcast, Josh and Yaz sit down with Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman to talk all things Sweetgreen from prices to AI “cooks” and his favorite item on the menu.
Category:
E-Commerce
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