Melissa Huamán’s Post

Yesterday, I had the privilege of presenting at the Zalando Grow event. For those unfamiliar, Grow@Zalando is an annual, company-wide event focused on internal growth and development opportunities offered by Zalando. We discussed personal branding, a topic that resonates deeply with me. During the panel discussion, which included colleagues from various departments, we explored the challenges of creating a personal brand, the importance of authenticity, and the balance between professional and personal life while maintaining a strong professional image. Key themes such as courage, feedback, peer support, and leadership were highlighted. If you are interested, here are some tips for building your personal brand: # Treat it as a Project: Collect data and feedback from individuals you trust to provide honest and constructive criticism. Reflect on your value system and identify how your personal values align with the company’s values. # Be Authentic: Show genuine interest in your interactions. Authenticity fosters trust and credibility with your audience. # Set Clear Goals: Define your objectives for your personal brand. Establish both short-term and long-term goals that align with your values, career aspirations, and personal life. I was thrilled to see my team’s support, the audience's engagement, and the insightful questions that arose during the session. Thank you, Robert Schiller, Veronica Schilling, Fuada Daco for the opportunity & Preethi Rao, Miguel Dupret, Charlotte Preut for an amazing discussion & exchange. #insidezalando

🗣️You only know, what you know !💡🔎 Information is key, and people from underrepresented communities often lack the knowledge and access to certain information. This ranges from understanding how to build a successful career path to identifying crucial aspects of building a business. In certain industries, the absence of key information makes failure more likely. One such industry is Fashion. Despite the immense influence of Black culture on consumer purchasing and the dominance of Hip Hop in Gen-Z and Millennial shopping choices—who, by 2026, will account for more than 60 percent of luxury fashion spending, according to research by Highsnobiety and Boston Consulting Group (BCG)—Black-owned brands are still severely underrepresented. This is due to factors such as scarcity of funding, operational challenges, and scalability issues, as shown in research by McKinsey & Company (link to research in comments). A key topic here is understanding the prerequisites for scale. While brand value is important, having the right infrastructure to scale and serve hundreds, if not millions, of customers is equally crucial. Thinking in terms of solutions, I am very proud to see our Black-Owned Brands Fashion Accelerator, conceptualized together with Zalando, come to life and I am honored to be on the selection panel alongside inspiring individuals like Stella Jean, Barbara Kennedy Brown, Lena - Sophie Röper (geb. Krups), Jean-Claude Mpassy and backed by the leading online retailer, Zalando. Participating brands will receive all the insights they need to scale successfully on e-commerce platforms like Zalando and reach millions of customers - purely based on democratizing access and know-how. Applications are still open until the 31st of August. Do you know any Black-Owned Brands that generate more than EUR 20k in revenue and want to scale on a platform like Zalando? Comment and encourage them to apply! Lets make more Black-Owned Brands succeed 🚀 cc: Helene Mathelemuse, Maddalena Benedetto #fashion #democracy #blackownedbusiness

✨ It’s the people that make my work at Zalando truly rewarding! ✨ Last week marked a special milestone as we celebrated our 4th anniversary of the Zalando Zurich office. What a journey it’s been! 🎉 It all started with the acquisition of a startup, which is now our Size & Fit Zurich team. From day one, I had the privilege of guiding the team through a smooth integration into the wider Zalando world. What's truly remarkable is that nearly all our colleagues are still with us—growing, evolving, and today tackling one of fashion's biggest challenges: helping people find the right size advice as one team spread across Zurich and Berlin. 👗👚 We’re continuing to expand and we all have been excited to welcome one of the Zalando eCommerce Plattform Service Teams to Zurich last year, working on exciting initiatives like the Zalando Fashion Assistant and other inspiring projects. 🚀 A big thanks goes to the Site Operations Team that I have the honor of leading for the past three and a half years. Pamela Herrera, Petros Papagiannis, Roxana and Marko Kauzlaric - we are a small team and we make the magic happen together, thanks a lot for your commitment and trust 🙌 Reflecting on my own adventure - moving to a new country during the pandemic, building up our site in Zurich and leading across functions far beyond my original profession - I couldn’t have done it without the incredible support from my team, central experts and leadership who believed in us every step of the way. 💪 For anyone dreaming big, here are two pieces of advice I’d love to share: 1️⃣ Build a strong foundation from the start so you’re ready to grow when the time is right - this equally counts for personal as well as business growth 2️⃣ When a great opportunity comes your way, be brave. (Personal) Growth often comes from stepping outside your comfort zone and surrounding yourself with people who challenge you in the best ways as well as those believing and supporting you 💡 Here’s to many more years of growth, collaboration, and exciting opportunities ahead! 🚀💼 #Teamwork #InsideZalando #ZalandoZurich #Leadership #GrowthMindset #CareerJourney

Success is also knowing when and how to slow down. Pausing doesn’t mean falling behind. Giving yourself permission to pause isn’t just necessary, it’s powerful. Often, when we slow down, we come back stronger, with new insights and energy to fuel our journeys. A refreshing perspective and wise advice from our conversation with Delphine Mousseau. With her impressive background as an e-commerce expert, board member, former VP at Zalando, and mother of four, Delphine has firsthand experience balancing professional ambitions with personal priorities. #UnboxingTheFuture #WorkLifeBalance #CareerWisdom

We’re constantly experimenting to find better ways to connect our customers, brands, and partners. When those experiments work, we celebrate. When they fail, we learn the lessons. It’s part of the Zalando culture. But we know that for lots of people, failure feels like a big deal. So how do you become a pro at 'failing forward'? Here are our top tips. 1. Break it down Being good at failing doesn’t mean taking unnecessary risks. If you’ve got a bold idea, break it down into smaller chunks, so that if you fail, you fail early and move on. 2. Remember the re-do At school, lots of us learn that instant success is the only acceptable result. But the joy of being an adult is that there’s always the re-do. If a project goes wrong, try it from a different angle. If this week’s presentation is a disaster, there’s always next week. Take the long view. 3. Give yourself points for being brave If your only measure of career success is perfection, you’ll probably take a pretty safe (and boring!) path. Give yourself points for being creative and bold. 4. Understand the consequences What would really happen if a project failed? What would your manager actually do if your big idea turned into a big mess? Where are the boundaries? Talk to your team leader to make sure your fears are based on reality. 5. Give yourself permission Failing doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you somebody who is brave enough to try. And that’s the kind of person we love! Put failure into perspective by allowing it into your career as part of your growth. At Zalando, we think big and act fast – it’s been an essential part of the Zalando story. Read it here: https://zln.do/3X4zU2K #InsideZalando

🎂 I just celebrated my 5th "Annivestiaire" - What a journey it's been! Reflecting on my 5️⃣ years in the leadership of Vestiaire Collective, here are 5️⃣ commandments: 🚀 You will deliver at a (very) fast pace: when volumes increase by 100%+, when you run out of cash, you have no choice but to deliver fast. 🔀 You will be versatile: being an expert on a single topic is not enough. You need to be able to lead teams from various functions - Ops, Commercial, Product, HR & Strategy so far. 🤓 You will be highly adaptable: leading team members with various backgrounds is definitely a challenge after BCG! 🎤 You will become public: need to represent Vestiaire in the public space, whether you like it or not. ♻️ You will be an activist: build your belief and start fighting for the cause, beyond the company. Going secondhand is just mandatory, full stop. Looking forward to the next 5 years! #fashion #luxury #secondhand #careers #leadership #startup

How does a major company reach its diversity goals while contributing to its business strategy by empowering underrepresented communities? I am happy to announce the launch of the Black-Owned Brands Accelerator Programme designed by ADAN for Zalando! This project exemplifies that working on creating a more diverse and equitable company is not just a charity project, but can also contribute to a company’s business goals. Zalando’s strategic focus is to become an ecosystem around Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) by further deepening customer and partner relationships. Part of this is also to be a partner of choice for brands from underrepresented groups, with a commitment to diversify the partner portfolio by initially onboarding 70 Black-owned brands. In line with our ongoing partnership, we recognized the need to better understand the challenges faced by these brands. This led us to conduct research, define the challenges, and create an Accelerator Program specifically for small Black-Owned Brands. Running from September 2024 to February 2025, five brands will cover brand building, marketing, product safety, logistics, and finance, concluding with an in-person Pitch Day in Berlin. I am very proud of this initiative, which took eight months to put together, but confirms my conviction that companies can combine profit with purpose by supporting underrepresented communities. This would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of our amazing DEI Leads, Helene and Maddalena, who pushed this project through and aligned with countless stakeholders within the organization. Thank you for your effort! I look forward to the exciting brands we will empower. If you know any Black-Owned Brand with European VAT and at least 20k in revenue that wants to scale across a major e-commerce platform like Zalando, please point them towards this program. Link in the comments. #empowerment #blackownedbrands #fashion

✨ 3 years ago I joined Zalando Here are my 7 reasons to keep promoting this amazing company. Starting in 2019, I applied 8 times to Zalando😅. In 2021, I was FINALLY invited to the Hiring Sprint 🚀. I had 0 confidence that I would pass these interviews. My main concern was the lack of English fluency 🗣️. It was an amazing 3 hours of interviews with Franziska Konnopka, Brian Kim, and Jessika Lichtenecker. Their answer was YES, and I started my journey at Zalando in September 2021 🎉. I truly believe that Zalando is the dream company for me. Here are my 7 reasons: 1️⃣ Smartest and open people from all around the world 🌍 It’s a fantastic mix of openness, maturity, and diverse experiences. Zalando hires people from all over the world, creating an incredible mix of experience and culture. 2️⃣ Innovative and customer-centric 📊🛍️ Fashion e-commerce is one of the most exciting areas to work in. It’s always about REAL customers, trends, and technology. It’s not just Nike, Boss, or Tommy Hilfiger — it’s AI, data, and industry tech trends. 3️⃣ Diversity 🤝 Genders, colors, passports, ages — we are all equals. I understood how important this is, especially being Russian in 2022 (you know what I mean). 4️⃣ Be your own boss 🔑💪 Learn basic processes and act like an owner. Incredible flexibility in the way I work allows me to manage programs and projects with autonomy and ownership. 5️⃣ Environment 🏢💻 I can work from home 3 times a week and even work abroad each year. If I prefer the office, I can choose from multiple locations, enjoy the benefits, join open spaces for active discussions, or select a quiet area for focused work. 6️⃣ Mature PMO practices 📈🔍 One of my goals in joining Zalando was to learn how PMOs work in Europe after successfully launching 3 PMOs in the largest Russian e-commerce companies. At Zalando, I continue to learn the best practices, not just in program management but also in portfolio and strategic planning. 7️⃣ Employee value 🌟🎁 I feel that the company values me, engages with me, supports me with perks, invites me to activities, and helps me develop my career. I see this pattern not just on the team level, but across the company as a whole. Today, my work is my hobby, and I get paid for it! It feels like a dream life ✨😇. I’ve learned so much about program management, fashion e-commerce, and I continue to grow in communications, leadership, and stakeholder management 🧠📚. I hope this story motivates you to keep searching for your dream company and never give up! 💪🌟

Pinterest appoints Chip Bergh, ex-CEO of Levi Strauss, bringing extensive retail expertise to drive growth and innovation. Read the Latest full News - https://lnkd.in/ggzXQ76T #martech #martechedge #appointment #executiveleadership #leadershipteam #businessgrowth #innovation #transformation #technology

I had the incredible opportunity to meet the CEO of Gap Richard Dickson this past weekend, and his insights were truly inspiring. He spoke passionately about Gap's journey and shared that his vision is not to compete with fast fashion but to focus on what makes the brand unique. He reminded us how important it is to go back to the why — why a brand was created in the first place. For Gap, it all began in 1969, when a couple in San Francisco set out to bridge the "generation gap." Interestingly, it was the wife who later struck out the word "generation," leaving us with the iconic brand we know today. On a personal note, he shared a touching story about how his mother framed the aspirations he had written down at 18, all of which he’s since accomplished. It was a powerful reminder of the value of clear goals and staying connected to your purpose. As a fellow UMD alum, he reflected on the impact of the community and the importance of giving back. He also emphasized the need to stay grounded, even in a world rapidly evolving with AI. While technology is a driving force, he stressed that Gap is, first and foremost, a fashion brand and that focus should never be lost. One key lesson that stuck with me was about communication. The current CTO of Gap earned his position by explaining complex technical concepts in a way that non-technical people could easily understand — a crucial skill for any leader today. And as if that wasn't enough, he also co-produced the Barbie movie! 🎬 Overall, it was an inspiring session that highlighted the importance of staying true to your brand’s story, communicating clearly, and never losing sight of your purpose. Special thanks to Prabhudev Konana  and Amy Swann for inviting the SMSA leaders to the event! #leadership #inspiration #Gap #fashion #purpose #communication #AI #UMDAlumni #BarbieMovie