What's Next Podcast with Umindi Francis

Stephanie Horton is Google’s Senior Director for Global Consumer Marketing and Commerce, where she focuses on shopping and travel. She’s also the co-founder of Fashion Tech Connects, which is focused on increasing the number of women of color in the tech and fashion industries.

Stephanie talks about her rise in the fashion and tech industries and how she’s concentrated on supporting women-owned businesses and recruiting the next generation of talent.

Follow Stephanie on LinkedIn or on Instagram @shorton007.

About Umindi

Umindi Francis is the CEO and founder of the award-winning global brand consulting firm UFCG. She has led business strategy and marketing for some of the world's leading brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta, and Bumble. Over the years, she has worked with celebrities and numerous brands, ranging from The New York Times to the United States Institute of Peace, as a business strategy adviser. Umindi has been featured in a number of publications, including Time, New York, and Vogue, and is the recipient of a United States Congressional Recognition for Business Achievement.

Follow Umindi on Instagram @Umindi360 @whatsnextwithumindi and on Linkedin here. 

Creators & Guests

Host
Umindi Francis
Founder and CEO of UFCG, a global brand consulting firm

What is What's Next Podcast with Umindi Francis?

What’s Next Podcast with Umindi Francis is a new podcast that explores perspectives from executives, creatives, and thought leaders at the intersection of business, marketing, and strategy in technology, fashion, entertainment, and more.

Umindi Francis leverages 20 years of business strategy experience and relationships as an entrepreneur, and executive for some of the world’s leading brands, to discuss insights, and the next frontier of business, from the people that move their industries forward. The podcast also highlights their path to success to deeper understand their journey.

Listeners will gain insights into how our guests drive innovation. They will also walk away from each episode encouraged and inspired to tackle their own professional goals in business. As a result of Umindi’s connections, listeners can expect marquee guests each episode.

Stephanie Horton
Well, yes, we're teaching the shop. But there's also in Google such an ecosystem and like helping merchants, growing businesses, making sure that the ecosystem is healthy and that people can shop big and small, and they can find black owned and they can shop nearby. So even though we're helping people buy things, we're also helping impact businesses, right, and also bringing them new technology, which to me is amazing.

Umindi Francis
This is what's next podcast with Umindi Francis, we're talking fashion business. And what's next? Let's go. Stephanie Horton is a leading C-suite executive of the global luxury and fashion industry. She's currently global consumer marketing director for commerce at Google, where she leads B to C marketing teams, helping to shape and drive the vision and strategy for Google Shopping and travel. Hi, Stephanie. How are you?

Stephanie Horton
How are you, Umindi. How are you?

Umindi Francis
Oh, good to see you.

Stephanie Horton
It's so good to be here.

Umindi Francis
Stephanie is a good friend of mine. Full disclosure. We're recording this on the first day of New York Fashion Week. And we started the day at Christie's for Andre Leon tallies exhibition, which was really something special to behold. This meeting I know ran into you with a few people. Bethann Hardison, Veronica Webb, Deseret Rodgers fashion fair and oppo cosmetics, black opal cosmetics. So yeah, Fashion Week is off to a running start.

Stephanie Horton
It is off and running. And to a good start. I thought that was a really great way to kick things off just an honor. Andre and like all the amazing things.

I mean, they were like, wild rooms. 12 rooms. Yeah. So much. Yeah, it was amazing trunks from all different brands and photos of you know, Diane Freeland and my gosh, Karl Lagerfeld and himself, and it was really a solemn but neutrophil celebration, and meeting really made me feel like how much we missed him. Yeah, I mean, also great to see everyone. Yeah, that was, I was gonna say it was good to see everyone there. But I am not gonna lie. I immediately went home and went on the website, and started to see what I could bid on. Because I mean, from the artwork to the jewelry to the Yeah, I mean, there were so many amazing,

Umindi Francis
beautiful, beautiful pieces of jewelry as well. Yeah. Well, Stephanie, you're a 25 year veteran of the luxury fashion and marketing community, you've developed an executed creative marketing solution, both domestically and internationally for brands, how have you brought this expertise to your position at Google?

Stephanie Horton
Yeah, I mean, I think the great thing about all of my, you know, jobs is that, you know, I've worked in a lot of different industries, and a lot of different touch points, but I think the main task at hand is pretty consistent. And that's, you know, how do you raise awareness? Or how do you shape a brand, so, you know, whether it be Vogue, or Farfetch, or, you know, weighing all of us places where a point in time or something needed to be created, and then scaled. So I think that's kind of my expertise. And you know, where my, I guess superpowers lies. So yeah, where I shine. So, you know, for shopping has gone through a few iterations. I think, like, this is like, the time where, you know, we're like, you know, there's a big opportunity here, you know, people shop on Google a billion times a day, how do we create an amplify this opportunity so that more people know about it, and know all the different tools they can use to shop and travel with Google.

Umindi Francis
It's so fascinating, since you've been there, I, my antenna has been up, I first organically noticed the changes, and then asked you about them and have been fortunate enough to attend some of your events. And it's just remarkable. I use both platforms so much, you've had one of the most phenomenal career trajectories of anyone I know, in the fashion industry. And now you're in tech at Google, walk us through your professional journey, because you certainly have the receipts. I think it's inspiring for people to know what can be accomplished. And, you know, we're learning that in hearing about your path.

Stephanie Horton
Yeah, I mean, so where did you start? Yeah, as you say, I've taken a lot of right and left turns. So actually started in finance. And you know, after undergrad and worked in finance for a couple years, did the customary go back to business school. And I think it was definitely in business school where I was like, I don't know if this is my jam. So kind of made a right turn or left turn, you know, no choice see it to marketing and the middle school and came out and actually worked for an agency draft worldwide in Chicago. Okay. And, you know, this is going to predate me a lot, but you know, this is way before social media or anything else. And the firm bought a company called Kba marketing, which did experiential marketing. So that was like when you were on the street, you know, trying to get people to do things. and really raise awareness for brand. So it was I remember my first client was Nike and we did this thing called the Nike Fun Police where we would like go up to people and be like you're wearing Adidas write your ticket like and give you like a coupon to shop at Nike. So this was like, you know, kind of like influencer marketing and all that kind of stuff before influencers. In another example, I opened the Dalinar hotel and launched the Escalade in in Miami and we had people like Carmen Electra and LL Cool J, who were really cool back then they're so cool. Now, you know, they're really cool back then in the car. So again, it was kind of influencer marketing before Instagram, because this was like, What 1997 Rajesh? Yeah. So, you know, that I think made me see that, like partnerships were important. And they also leveraged blant brands and gave them a real ability to scale beyond their own customer base like marrying the Delano and Cadillac was something that was no one ever thought of that. But suddenly, when you pulled up to the dollar, now, you got a Cadillac and an L. I was like, I need this car. And I'm like something here, right? So after that, I actually went on to move to New York worked at Gotham magazine with Jason bend launched that in the same it was just a lot of partnerships. And, you know, how do you leverage to make each brand bigger. And from there, I got a call from the New York Times, and kind of went back to my roots a little bit because I worked in due diligence and worked in strap planning. So I did a lot of diligence for Thursday styles T magazine, which didn't exist then but you know, we did all the diligence behind it and then launched it with Stephen Otaki. So a lot of great experiences there, and then moved on to Vogue. And actually my job there was like to put some rigor behind the CFDA Vogue Fashion fund in the mat, like, how do we monetize it, as well as how does a magazine get more non endemic advertisers from non fashion? So, you know, the automotive advertisers and the liquor advertisers, you know, more the Vanity Fair crew, which was my expertise, because I'd come from a company that did a lot of automotive advertising. So I was able to create a few things there, including the Vogue 100, which still exists today. And again, I think it was maybe creating something before its time because my whole intent with that was around 2008 When everything crashed, right, right. And people wanted, you know, a lot of our advertisers like how do we get people in stores? And I think everyone was tired of just being invited to an event for no reason. So I had a friend host an event at her home with the clothes in Dallas. And it was the best thing ever. I mean, it's like, this is a great environment. I'm like, Oh, what if I had more of my friends, right? host events you had and she had like, amazing artwork. So people were coming for different reasons. So start off with 10 women, I think in five cities, all my friends, and it started working out really well like all these retailers. Like how do we do the next one. So literally, I ended up doing five people in five markets. Each of them recommended people and by the next seven months, I had 100 people and you know, we're like what should we call it? Like book 100 And that was the first that was the first iteration of it. And yeah, we started doing it it started expanding so companies like Neiman Marcus started using the ladies to see like you know, do you think we have the right things like Chanel would be sending them face creams before the market you know they launched it so really was kind of that again influencer group before you know, there were there were real, you know, influencers as we see them today. So you stayed there for a while got recruited by Shopbop.

Umindi Francis
And how long were you revoke? I was

Stephanie Horton
at Vogue almost seven years. Yeah. So seats, like I said, yeah, yeah. So lots of and I loved it there. I mean, you know, I had a great boss and Tom Florio, I love to Yeah, I learned a lot. I learned a lot there. You know, I think that's where I actually grew up and kind of got some real business chops. Yeah. And, you know, I think attitude, like you just learn, like to be direct to be decisive, you know, to make decisions quickly. And I think all of that like is, is really inherent how I manage and do business today. So yeah, so stay there. Actually, it was funny, Amazon was sponsoring the mat. And I was writing the proposal for them and I met ball, they met ball, yes. be met, bah, bah. And they were like, We want all this stuff. And I'm like, okay, you've never worked with. And so, you know, it was kind of rewriting it. And they were like, oh, you know, would you be interested in the job here. And at that time, like, again, loved vo they were very good to me, but I think it was his time to learn something new after seven years. Yeah, yeah, you're exactly. And you know, e commerce was coming on the horizon. This is now 2011. And I'm like, I think you know, I need to learn so Though we're about, you know, where else do you learn about e commerce then Amazon's like your MBA, right? And, you know, e commerce as well as digital marketing. Right. So I went there. And that was pivotal to me, because there, you know, we it was Shopbop. And I was basically the marketing director, and they were trying to launch internationally. So we had no, there was no playbook, you know, no precedent, there was no precedents. And it's 2011. Yeah, it's 2011. And they were like, We want to launch in China. So myself and the head of international Karen going or at the time, we like literally get on a plane to China to figure out how do we do business here? You know, no Instagram, really? No, no Instagram, it just launched in 2010. So there's no, no, there's nothing. Yeah, there's nothing. So literally, we're figuring out like, do we land servers here? Like, like, how do we mark it? Okay, they don't use Google. It's Baidu. You know, how do we performance market? If you're not buying keywords here? Like, how do we do that it was literally like figuring out the business soup to nuts. And we replicated that same process in Russia in the Middle East. So for me, it was like my first real opportunity to go outside of the US Yeah, and really learn like, you have to learn culture, you have to learn business skills, you have to learn personal skills, like you know, in some places, you need to pull the business card with two hands and wait until they take it like, you know, there's so many nuances and how people do business and like what's going to make you successful, you know, in every single market. So I think that was a big learning for me and being able to have a wider breadth, RAM to offer. And it came in handy. Because I got a call from actually Conde Nast had invested in Farfetch, this company called Farfetch, the newbie. And I got a call to actually run the US. And, you know, I went on the interview, like, you know, a couple of interviews, and they realized I had all this international experience. And they were like, Oh, we actually have a CMO position open, but it's in London. And I'm like, Well, I have no intention to meet me to let you know you're in New York. Yeah, I'm in New York. Time. And I don't know, I had no intention. I really didn't say I was like, you know, thank you very much. Bye. Five years later, yeah, five minutes. I read live, there were six years. But no, it was literally Josie Josie, who founded Farfetch was in the states the next two weeks. And they're like, we just want you to speak to our founder and you know, make your decision. And literally within, I don't know, 20 minutes speaking to just say I was packing my loveliest purse. I mean, he's a lovely person, but he's also such a visionary. And you just want to be a part of the dream. I'm like, I don't even know if this sounds viable, or if this is gonna work. But I'm doing this right now. And at that point, it was a big chance to take right, this is an unknown site. It's an unknown process. At that point, there were no marketplaces, right. So this is a very new way to shop. The tech is, you know, kind of, like shaky at best, you know, there's a lot of risks here. But needless to say, the next few months, I packed my bag and moved to London, where, where was my home for the next five years. And that was amazing. We launched nine markets, you know, so I went to Tokyo and launched Shanghai, we launched Russia, in Moscow, we launched the Middle East. You know, we opened another office in LA, we did you know, South America. So that for me was again, like, just a really global, she would have been prepared. Yeah. And I was prepared for it. So you know, a woman for the job. Exactly. And I knew and I knew what to ask for. And at that point, so, you know, working with the CFO at the time was a small team, you know, when I went there, so it was like, maybe five, five of us in the C team. You know, below you guys were and we make him day one engine. Yeah, it was like, you know, an engine and we were just like, a lot of the times we didn't know what we were doing, but somehow it always worked. Right, but a great opportunity. But then it was time for me to move back home. You know, my parent, you know, my parents, my parents are older. And you know, it's just like, I've been here a long time that yeah, it was time to come back. So came back and worked with Alex Wang for a couple of years who I love. He just did his first show. And four years a couple days ago, which was amazing. I've never heard of like, I need this. I saw you before you went yeah. So yeah, yeah. So it was amazing show but you know, when to Alex and again, for me, it was it another pivotal moment, because, you know, I never really been over operations, licensing partnerships. Okay,

Umindi Francis
so you were CMO at SEMA for now. Now?

Stephanie Horton
I'm Chief Strategy Officer why? Okay, so now I'd like a little bit reasonable. So yeah, globally, so it's beyond marketing. I am in charge of sales globally, you know, all of the all kinds of the operational part the bottom lines of business you know, partnerships like basically my job is how do we make money right and which should be our you know, what should be be our strategy go forward. And we were also at that time working on a fundraise. So that was all great to me, because I'm like, you know, never had an exit. You know, I've never really been the person to put the deck together for the company. You know, it was a bit of a restructure on the sales side. So that was interesting, you know, reorganizing how the global sales process worked. And then really getting in there and learning product and counter sourcing and like how to be efficient, and, you know, really how to run a business and set it up for scale and success. Like, you know, I did a I relicense. We started under really, you know, and stuff that's still going on today. And lots of great partnership.

Umindi Francis
Lots of cool events. Yeah, that's a cool event. Celebrity Yeah, exactly.

Stephanie Horton
What would you expect? Nothing less of Alex. But again, I think each job set me up for the next one. Yeah. So you know, I had, you know, deficiencies to me. And then, like, what I was able to operate in my repertoire, and this kind of filled the hole, right. So in Google called, you know, I think I was ready, right? To take this on, because obviously, this is a scale that, you know, I've never worked on never worked a company this large, you know, obviously, you know, the, the job fine, but I think the reach was like, you know, the thing that really attracted me because, you know, after leaving wine, you know, it was kind of like what I wanted to do something with impact. And I did in between, I was co CEO of a company on a contract called hemp Taylor, okay, which was it made outerwear out of hemp. So 100% is, you know, hemp is the most data in a product, wow, the Muhsin party. And for me, it was like, you know, I've done all these amazing jobs. So I don't feel like I really made an impact on anything. Like, who I really helped, right? How people shop, I think, a lot of nice stuff. But you know, like, I guess, as far as legacy in the world, yeah, I felt like I needed to do something else. And I think this job gave you gives you the platform to really make an impact, you know, on people, yes, for teaching myshop. But, you know, there's also in Google such an ecosystem, and like helping merchants, you know, growing businesses, making sure that the ecosystem is healthy, and that, you know, people can shop big and small, and they can find black owned, and they can shop nearby. So, you know, I think, even though we're helping people buy things, we're also helping impact businesses, right, and also bringing them new technology, which, which to me is amazing.

Umindi Francis
And you started at Google in 2020. I did during the height of the pandemic, I started her right in the middle of you know, it's such a pivotal time for everyone's business. And here you are diving in headfirst into one of the biggest companies in the world. Yeah, you know.

Stephanie Horton
Yeah, it was funny. Like, when I had my first meeting with everyone, and we're all on the GVC like, Lucky. I'm like, This is so bizarre, because you know, massively it's yeah, it's massive. And it's just like, I mean, like, literally, there is like a, you know, a black history month thing. And like I you know, I just tune in, because I'm like, Oh, this is cool. Like, I will say one thing, like, Google's very supportive and does a lot of programs for you know, bipoc and like everything, but I literally tune in, it's like Michelle Obama. I'm like, like, oh, yeah, I work at Google. Right? Yeah. Yeah. How? You know, usually, it's like me talking at the company, Black History Month. Yeah. You know, situation.

Umindi Francis
So yeah, I think that's so incredible. My next question was, how did you transition from fashion and media to tech, but you walked us through this? And I think it's so important and inspiring for people at every stage of their career to hear about your evolution. Yeah. Because they're able to see the possibilities for themselves. In your story. Yeah. And that's what's so inspiring.

Stephanie Horton
And I think, you know, one thing about that, like, that, I would say is, I like to stay uncomfortable.

Umindi Francis
I was just going to say that, yeah, you definitely, in your explanation talked about diving into spaces that you were uncertain.

Stephanie Horton
Yeah. I mean, like, yeah, yeah. Like, I would say, like three fourths of the jobs that I've had, like, I've always known how to do the core, like, you know, I can look at a business, assess it, understand how to grow it and come up with a plan. You know, that's right. I'm a strategist. But I don't know anything about China. Like, you know, I don't know anything about products at Google and how, you know, engineering and how that, you know, it's, I think, I like though, having that like, little bit of instability and just uncomfortableness that I need to learn. Because I think that's what gives me a little bit of passion and like motivation to go for, like, if it's easy. It's not really for me, right now. I like to have something to figure out. So I think that's why jumping different industries and just, you know, being open to new experiences is really important. And it just like rounds you like, you know, if I hadn't taken some of these jobs, I would have never had some of these experiences.

Umindi Francis
Right. You know, it's amazing. Well, you talked a little bit about your responsibility. These at Google right now. But when you start your day, what's one thing that's top of mind for Google? So wow, Wednesday, because a lot of things. Like one night, yeah,

Stephanie Horton
I mean, like my job. So I mean, my job and my team, like, you know, basically, if you've ever shopped for anything on Google price compared, you know, looked for nearby, or, you know, tried to do a flight, that those are the things we handle. So I guess, you know, top of mine every day for all of these things are, you know, we do brand. So, you know, we look at competitive analysis. So, you know, are we competitive, like, you know, we do research, we work with our product and engineering teams, you know, we work on go to market strategy. So, I think, you know, each day, I think it's it's like a different. Yeah, it's very colorful, you know, we look for interesting partnerships. So I think each day is very colorful, but I think, you know, obviously, we work for a tech company. And you know, the bottom line is, we want to make things easier for you, and give you the information that you need to make the decisions you need. So I think that's what we're all working towards.

Umindi Francis
And it definitely helps if you're looking for that leopard print jacket, you just go on Google and you'll click shopping, you'll see Yeah, all the options.

Stephanie Horton
Yep. And all the filters. Like if you want to shop by price, or value, or if you want to shop near you, or, you know, you want to filter by size, you know, it gives you all of those things.

Umindi Francis
Right? I just I want to talk about some of the initiatives that you've done, while during your tenure at Google. There's so many incredible things that I've witnessed. Yeah. And just notice organically, and I'm like, hey, that's I think that's Stephanie, and it is, tell me about some of the things that you're proud of some of the initiatives that you've been involved in thus far.

Stephanie Horton
Yeah, I mean, I think there's a few things. I mean, for me, I think, you know, one of the things I always love to do is help small businesses, like, you know, my dad had a side hustle growing up called Stephanie's boots and shoes hybrid. And so I saw him kind of struggled with, like, how to grow this business. And like, you know, all these things, and tips and tools that are available now really weren't available then. But even now, it's hard for people to know and get access to, to capital to like, oh, okay, I'm on Google, how do I use all these tools. And I think for me, it's been amazing to be able to do things to bring all this to life. So I think one partnership that we did last year with American Express, we did murals, actually, in five cities, which we had black artist, and you know, just actually bipoc artists do paintings of small businesses. So it can each mural had against small businesses, and you can QR code them and shop for murals. And we also had a site that was dedicated to it. So it brought to life a lot of businesses that no one ever heard of. And we did them in major markets, and you know, some adjacent to the neighborhoods that they were in. And so we were able to bring attention to all of these, which was amazing way. And then, you know, recently, actually, last year going into this year, we've partnered with 15%. Pledge, and Aurora James, which has been amazing. Tell us about what is 15. So 15% pledge, you know, I think, two years ago after the whole unfortunate, unfortunate Georgia incident incident,

Umindi Francis
Yeah.

Stephanie Horton
You know, Aurora James, who founded it was like, you know, this is crazy. Why is this happening? You know, like, we need to do something just to, you know, just mobilize and rally, and

Umindi Francis
That a feeling of wanting to do do something, and a lot of our initiatives, yeah, were birthed from that moment. Exactly. Unfortunately. So yeah, and the 15% pledge is?

Stephanie Horton
So basically, it's having major retailers dedicate 15% of the shelf space to black owned brands, which is great. But a lot of the brands don't have infrastructure, or really, like, you know, don't have a way to even get to 15% of shelf space, because they have supply issues, they have production issues. So one of the things that we were able to do was bring in the b2b side of Google and train all of the businesses in their database on like, how do you get discovered online? You know, how do you use Google Analytics? Like how do you use all these great tools that we have on the merchant side to really expand your business?

And then we took it a step further this year, where we did the first ever Achievement Awards, where we gave one business $200,000.50 For thrown, just a beauty brand one. So again, and we'll be able to give mentoring to the brands continue to expand our educational program and the database. So I think, you know, being able to do things like this are amazing. And I think being able to do it at scale and the reach that Google has is amazing is an impactful? Yeah. And I love that you naturally, of course, find ways to call upon your previous experience. Because one thing about the fashion industry, it's one thing to see it from the outside looking in. But when you're inside, there's so many layers to it. Yeah. And in order to just, you know, thrive in business, you kind of need to know, you just know. Yeah. And having you at Google in this capacity, really, you know, hit the nail on the head, as to how to help in this moment. Yeah, partnering with 15% pledge in that way, helping the founders and supporting with funding. Yeah, you know, is, is a homerun.

Yeah, yeah. Like it hits both sides. And I think that's what we were really going for is, is being able to not just write a check or have our logo on something, but really be able to have impact and help the businesses Young who need who need the help.

Umindi Francis
So you're from Chicago, Chi-Town, tell us how being from Chicago informs some of your professional creative choices.

Stephanie Horton
I mean, I think, you know, growing up Chicago was great, you know, it's it's the kind of the best of both worlds. It's, it's a big city, but you know, it's Midwest at heart. So, you know, you kind of get the values of a Midwestern, you know, everyone in your block, you know, everyone knocks on everyone's door, and you come out to play, you know, it's like, kind of old school, but you're still in a good sized city. So I think for me, you know, it's all about values and like, you know, how you treat people how you want to be treated, you know, what you want to get out of life, what legacy you want to leave. And I think a lot of that is from my upbringing, and my parents and the people I was around, and just the environment I was in, you know, it, you know, I came to New York, and I remember, maybe the second day I moved here, like, you know, in Chicago, you walk by someone, you smile, you say, hey, you know, when you're walking down the street, I remember like doing that to someone, they were like, they gave me a look, I was just like, oh my god, we're calling my mom, like, you're not supposed to smile here. I'm like, I need to like, you know, totally black. Yeah, in black. And I need to, like totally change my persona. Because like, you know, so it was just a funny, you know, metamorphosis of like, my Chicago persona to like my now New York persona. But I think, you know, still all that follows with me. And you know, I hope I haven't changed too much. But yeah, I think definitely, those Midwestern values are are really important.

Umindi Francis
That's wonderful as your core. So I know you're passionate about giving back, obviously. And you've applied that in a broader tech and fashion industries via your platform that you co founded fashion, tech connects, just to name a few. Yeah. Can you tell us about your work with this organization?

Stephanie Horton
Yes, no. fashion tech connects. I started with Stacey Henderson, who is the new US CMO of Todd's group. You love Stacey love Stacey. Like Stacey and I met probably 25 years ago, I was at Vogue. And we were at a meeting for the September issue. She was working on events and marketing and Versace. And I was at Vogue. And there was probably a meeting of 20. And we were the only two people of color. We changed the demographic when we walked into the room. And I remember being I remember noting this, and we that's how we met. And we became you know, obviously became friends from that. And we're still friends today. And over the years, we definitely both moved in different jobs in different circles. But I think one thing we always knew was like, wow, there's not many of us here, in in leadership positions, and sometimes at any position, right is bad. So when I moved back to the states in 17, we talked about doing this as like, we just need to do this. And I think, you know, whenever you talk about doing something you want to do a big and grand I was like, I think we're not going to do it that way. Well, you call two jobs that you just had, I'll call my two of my old jobs. And we're gonna throw up a website like you're gonna be in charge to help tell us what was so passionate. Yeah, connect. So basically, we wanted to start an organization to help people break into fashion and tech, because we noticed that there was a disparate, huge disparity, and people of color, especially women, in roles in fashion and tech companies. So again, like I think when we first started talking about it, we're like, we're gonna get 20 companies and this person's gonna sponsor it's gonna be all this, but we both have full time jobs. That's a lot of work. So I'm like, but we want to still do this. So we literally divided divided and conquered is just the two of us, like self funded, and we built a website like literally Stacy built the site. I wrote the copy. We both you know, called Old friends at jobs and we started it with internships and Farfetch Stitch Fix Alexandra banks. I was there at the time. I think we had Tory Burch I think we had another company, maybe Gucci, or maybe there was like, I think it was Gucci. And we literally put out a call for you know, I found this site that actually went to all the colleges. Wow. So we, you know, we put put it up and we ended up having like, 300 people apply, Stacey and I like, you know, we did our interviewed everybody. And then two of you.

Umindi Francis
The two of us. I did not know that. Yeah.

Stephanie Horton
Like we were like meaning intervening in turn, right. Like, what are we thinking, But literally, we interviewed everyone on our own, because I think one of the things that we were selling to the companies are, you know, are at this point, our old jobs and colleagues is that like, Stacey and our hiring managers, we know what companies look for, right? We're gonna weed it out and get you the best person for your internship. And we had internships from developers, to e commerce to PR and marketing are really just to give girls exposure and to things that they never would have known. It's hard to get a job at Tory Burch, it's hard to get a job at Alex Wang, you know, and then you know, they go on to want to look at different things. So we started it, we put the criteria that you had to be at a four year university with a 3.0 grade point average. And we went from there and have we done every year sense with it expanding. We had Reshma last year, you know, just major companies have now called and wanting to be involved with like some really interesting like, last year, I think we offered an internship from Reshma at Van Cleef. But in the, in the curating, like in the archive, and curating the archive, which is super cool. I'm like, Can I do? Yeah, but you know, so, yeah. And then like, you know, from, you know, having a developer at Stitch Fix, who's a coder, so, and we had an NFT internship last year in May. So you know, it's just about giving these girls exposure and the opportunity to be in places that, you know, are really hard to break into for anyone. Which is really important, because I think, you know, both Stacey and I can say that we've had, I've had great mentors and sponsors who have helped me. So I really feel it's our job to really get back.

Umindi Francis
And what's the difference between a mentor and a sponsor?

Stephanie Horton
So good question. Yeah, I mean, there's definitely difference and everyone should make sure you have both a mentor is someone with in your company or outside of your company, who can give you guidance just on like this situation happened? Did I handle it right? Advice on your next career move? You know, even if you just want to run by like, you know, I have this situation? What do you think the someone who's just going to mentor you through issues, problems, career changes, career move, etc, and advisor, a sponsor is someone in your company or in your industry who's advocating for you behind closed doors when so when promotion time comes up, they're like, I think humanity, Francis is a good candidate for this because X, Y, and Z reason, if there's an opportunity to do something amazing at the company and speak on a panel, I think human defenses should be doing this because I want to give her exposure. So someone who's actively advocating for you, in the company or in your industry, who is helping you along. And for me, I've had great mentors and sponsors, like a lot of my board seats came from sponsorship, a lot of my jobs have come from sponsorship, and mentors who have thought of me and recommended me for lots of opportunities. So I mean, one thing I'll say is I haven't got you know, I would never claim to gotten anywhere on my own. Right. Oh, I mean, obviously, I think, you know, my work speaks for itself. But, you know, people have definitely helped have helped me on the way. So that's why I feel so passionate about being able to help.

Umindi Francis
It's a question people ask all the time, but since we're on the topic, how do you find them?

Stephanie Horton
Yeah, I think this is where the uncomfortable part comes in again, because you have to go ask and you have to network, you know, no one's coming to you and be like, I want to be your mentor. So you definitely have to seek people out and not be afraid to go up to them and say, like, I've admired your career, you're doing exactly what I want to do. I would love to have a coffee with you. I mean, I get tons of emails, and I answer most of them. Yeah, like you can't do everything. But you know, you try and people appreciate it. So I would say like, Don't feel nervous or afraid about it, because people actually are flattered that you've asked, but you have to ask and you have to be proactive. And you have to do it. I'll tell you a trick of can't believe I'm giving this up. But like my when I was in banking, my first boss told me that she was like, You need to treat your network, like a org chart. And she had me right, mentor sponsor friend. There were like five columns, and she told me to write names. You know, like, who's gonna be your person and all these things. And then like right below it as you get more people so I actually started doing I still have it on my wall today, it's now about 50 people. But it started out with like, Oh, this is the person I think should be my mentor. This is a person I think should be my sponsor, you should always have a friend. And like kind of a agnostic friend who who's not, you know, bought into any of this.

Umindi Francis
Good advice, first of all, yeah, good perspective.

Stephanie Horton
And then get out of your bubble. Yeah. And then oh, I know, that fits. The other one was like people you admire, right, who you just think you should meet? And so I literally created that org chart. And I still use it today. That's absolutely brilliant. And that ties are going up if you bought like, I need to like receipt. Yes.

Umindi Francis
That's fantastic. So I want to go back to fashion tech connects. When did you launch that? When? 2017 2017? That's remarkable. And I think the message here is that, you know, you just start where you are, yeah, a lot of folks feel like they want to have initiatives and do things. But there has to be this pomp and circumstance where you need funding and so forth. And you and Stacey picked up where you were, with the resources you had meaning time, because time is the app is valuable. Yeah. And you've impacted and change lives and trajectories, because these internships completely change the trajectory of your life. And they are sometimes impossible to get Yeah. And so it's really a big deal.

Stephanie Horton
And the good part is to the girls, so caught like, you know, a couple of them, like a lot of them now who graduated from college and have jobs and now, like one just called me the other day, she's like, I need a job change needs to talk to you. So there's still you know, so now they have you on my orchard?

Umindi Francis
Yeah, so let's talk about Stephanie off duty. Yes, I know you're stumped. Where do I start? There's so many things. You're an avid traveler, you're definitely a fashionista. You you give back. You know, you're such a big advocate for so many causes. But you're also an art collector as well. And I know we love talking about that. So tell us a little bit about that side of you.

Stephanie Horton
Yeah, I mean, a few years ago, I've always been interested in interested in art, but I don't feel like I have a good eye for you. I mean, I know what I like, but I'm like, Is this something I should be doing or not doing? So I have a couple of, you know, I kind of reached out to a couple people. My friend, my friend Monique Melosh in Chicago owns a gallery, and has like a lot of great, a lot of great work a lot of great work by, you know, black artists. And then there's Miriam Abram, who also has a gallery in Chicago. She's a female woman on gallery. It's also actually she has opened in Paris, and now just in Mexico City.

And then I have a lot of friends who are collectors. And so I kind of just, you know, my friend George. So I kind of just went to each of them. And we're like, you know, if I want to start, you know, where should I start? And my first big purchase, Monique actually sold to me was a Cheryl Pope, which is, you know, out east and you know, from there, I just kind of like Giovanni, he's, he's a great curator. He has a gallery in Chicago in Miami as well. So he sold me a couple of paintings. And then I just started going from there, like, you know, taking my time, you know, Shannon Lewis, she's a black artist out of Germany, actually. But she sold she has exclusive with Miriam, Abraham. I fell in love with one of her paintings. So she's now one that I definitely try every time she fighting. I'm like, Okay, now you're like, really expensive. Like when I found her? Like, you know, this is great, you know, and now, you know, she's in a big gallery. But you know, it's why you take your time, you know what I mean? So now I, you know, find the pieces that I love. Take my time, actually another great one who was at the Andre thing this morning, Jamil Robinson, is there. So I have a few of his pieces made, as well. Yeah. So yeah, so it's just about finding who you like. And then like, you know, literally, I'm like, What is your next show? rying to get in early, so you can like, you know, maybe get something before it's on market, and then building a collection. But that, you know, that's been a really great passion of mine.

Umindi Francis
But I've seen you for years that the Studio Museum of Harlem events in the Whitney studio, art party and the new museum and all you know, all the other events supporting so it's great that you are such a supporter of the arts and female artists. Yes. It's it's really been a joy to watch your passion in that area. Go back to business. Yeah, you're a big advocate of women owned businesses, and supporting new growth. Can you explain your work there?

Stephanie Horton
Yeah. I mean, you know, I was lucky enough after all of our hard work at Farfetch, we you know, we had an IPO which is amazing. So I've been able to not only be on advisory boards of a lot of women owned business, like you know, sharing, sharing McMullin and others but have also been able to invest in a few companies which has been amazing. So I've been by I sit in face gym, which is a women owned brand. I've invested in my Looney, which is a FEM tech brand that helps alleviate, you know, all the moodiness during our menstrual cycle. And they're also coming out with some new products towards the end of this year into next year, that helps a lot of other issues that women have around that time and then moving into different phases of life. But I think femtech is a huge, a huge vase that we should all be, you know, looking at, I'm looking at the current investment of a black female fund founder actually, I won't name it, but it's actually in the plant based milk area, okay, which again, is one of mine. So, you know, I look for companies and founders, you know, obviously, in an industry, I feel like I can add value, right, um, so that, you know, you know, whether it be marketing, or go to market or strategy that I can actually add value to them in their business and on their board. So it's not just like, you know, I've given.

Umindi Francis
That brings your life full circle. Yeah. And it's such such a great feeling. And it gets even learning and learns, yeah, and contribute your skills in another way. And I think it's fantastic. Because we all know, we don't all know, but the statistics are women, you know, female founders Garner less than 6% of venture capital in the United States. And for black female founders. It's less than 2%. Yeah. So to have a woman such as yourself, who has such, you know, astute expertise in the CPG, space and consumer space. Have yourself be seen, have these founders be seen by you is really a vote of confidence. Yeah. And that's quite a bit.

Stephanie Horton
No, thank you. Yeah. And I enjoy it. And, you know, to it's like, learning different industries, which is great. But I think just at the core, like you said, I think I can offer some expertise there. So yeah,

Umindi Francis
What advice would you have for any female founders that may be feeling discouraged? Because they're, you know, the statistics are what they are I, I always say, if Reese Witherspoon had trouble raising for her company. Yeah, I think she raised like 95 million or million.

Stephanie Horton
She ended up and no shovel, but yeah, yeah, no, I mean, look, I'm gonna be honest, I'll say it's hard. You know, it's not an easy road. So like, I always say, people are like, Oh, why don't you have your own business? And like, I'm not an entrepreneur. I don't think I have it. Me. It's hard. You have to, you have to be there through thick and thin the ups and downs, the setbacks and the and the more setbacks. But I think network network network, just people like you who have animate like, I mean, I call you Monday for like, Okay, who can we decide to do that?

Umindi Francis
And I say the same about her.

Stephanie Horton
But you know, it's like, you have to cast a wide net, you know, you have to cast a really wide net, and just keep going, and you let you land one. And then you can land the next line, you know what I mean? But, you know, I guess the advice I would have is just you have to, you have to be passionate about you have to really want it, right. Cuz if you don't advice, you're gonna get discouraged. Because it's not so easy. Right? Not there's no, there's really no magic bullet.

Umindi Francis
Right. Thanks for Thanks for sharing that. Keep going, keep going. Yeah, we couldn't wrap this conversation without me saying that I've long admired you are at the cultural Vegas of things. And the partnerships that you put together have been truly just phenomenal and incredible. You will, like LL Cool J and Cadillac Escalade, and the Delano put together things that different spectrums, and they blend so harmoniously. And every time I've seen you move into a new space, you've hit the ground running and done that right away. And I think that's one of your superpowers. So I just had to applaud you for that for sure. I'll take you. And so one last question. For anyone interested in pursuing a career in tech as a second act? What advice would you give them?

Stephanie Horton
I would say, you know, especially if you're like, not a product engineer, or like a product person, I would say, understand what your superpower is, and what you're good at. Because when you're gonna go to a tech company, it's it's different than other industries, right? So you know, you're gonna be in a space that you don't really know, you're gonna have to learn the product side of it to be effective. So you know, you have to make sure that the job you're in is something that you think you can immediately add value to. I mean, even with Google, like, you know, I interviewed for a couple of roles that I'm like, this could be could be cool, but I'm like, just maybe a little bit too much of a learning curve. And they don't understand this, nor do understand that nor do understand that like, this should not be for me, so I I would say be really clear on the role, what your responsibilities will be, and make sure that you can actually effectively contribute to that. So that you know, because you're gonna have to learn lots of other stuff. So you want to make sure that the core is there.

Umindi Francis
Well, thank you so much. We had Stephanie Horton, global consumer marketing director for commerce at Google, where she leads B to C marketing teams and helps shape and drive vision and strategy of Google Shopping and travel. Definitely. How can we find you?

Stephanie Horton
Wow. You can find me on LinkedIn at Stephanie Horton. I'm @shorton007 on Instagram because I love James Bond. And I have the same handle on Facebook.

Umindi Francis
Okay, wonderful. Well, thank you so much. And I'm your host, Umindi Francis. You can find me @Umindi360 on Instagram and Umindi Francis at LinkedIn. That's all we have today for What's Next Podcast with Umindi Francis. Take care.