Melissa Mash: Building a Global Bag Brand and How They Achieved 50% Organic Site Traffic

Melissa Mash is the co-founder and CEO of Dagne Dover, a New York-based performance bag brand creating functional bags for work, travel, parenting, and everything in between.


Expect to hear about:

– A 14-Year Partnership: How three co-founders built a lasting business together by putting their egos to the side and showing up as their full selves.

– Product Over Paid: Why Melissa bet on making higher quality bags instead of bigger ad budgets, driving 50% organic site traffic through word of mouth.

– Tariffs as a Reset: How tariffs forced price increases, supply chain renegotiations, and a 50% cut in ad spend (without losing demand).

– Women's Sports Bet: Why Dagne Dover secured sponsorships with LOVB Volleyball and the US women's national volleyball team.

– Going Global: How Melissa's time at Coach taught her to never rush international expansion, and their plan to become a global brand.


Find Melissa on:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissashinmash/ 

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High Stakes Growth® takes you inside the boldest decisions behind today’s most exciting consumer brands. We bring you candid conversations with the founders and CMOs who built them—unpacking the high-stakes moments, tough calls, and game-changing strategies that made these brands what they are today. No fluff. No surface-level insights. Just real stories from the leaders who made it happen. Hosted by Forest Bronzan and Leah Lloyd, they bring a combined four decades of consumer brand expertise to these conversations.