Denise Vujovich recently joined the LIM College Board of Directors after more than four decades of experience in leadership positions within large, fashion-focused retailers. We talked with Denise about her career and her new role helping to guide LIM as a Board member.
Q: You have helped lead some of the biggest names in retail. What interested you in the opportunity to join LIM’s Board?
A: I am energized and excited about joining a Board of Directors that truly wants its members to be involved, to know the college, to ask tough questions, and actively provide guidance. When I was contacted about the opportunity by LIM President Ron Marshall, whom I worked with at Claire’s Stores when he was CEO and I was Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer, I was interested in serving for multiple reasons.
First, I have always believed who you work with is more important than where you work, and Ron was one of the best CEOs I have ever worked with—and I’ve worked with many! Next, I am from an immigrant family and was the first female to graduate from college. My passion for education led me to pursue a career in teaching, which I felt was my purpose. While in school, I worked in a department store and discovered talents that I had for the retail world, and I ended up dedicating my career to it.
The LIM Board gives me an opportunity to combine the passion I have for education, which never left my heart, with the love I have for retail. It’s exciting to put them together!
Q: Among your many skills and experiences, what is the most important asset you will bring to the LIM Board?
A: I will bring a ‘listen to learn’ mindset to this role, as I have throughout my career. I am a critical thinker and highly logical. I like to take in all the inputs from my team, review all the data, simplify it, and then use my gut to make decisions and focus people on what will truly make a difference for the organization in a positive way.
Q: What do you think is LIM’s biggest asset that should be preserved into the future?
A: That has to be the amazing commitment to an experiential style of learning. When I heard that LIM has a 96% Career Outcomes rate, I was incredibly impressed. The focus on internships is fabulous. As a leader, I always took the internship process very seriously. I paired interns with my best people to do meaningful work because it gave me an opportunity to get to know the character of the interns and to watch them in action. Selfishly, I was always looking to hire from the pool of interns, because you know who you are hiring and what talents they bring.
Q: Looking back at your years in college, what is something you know now that you wished you knew then?
A: I wish I knew how important it is to be endlessly curious; to be a student of any business you work within and not to be afraid to ask for help. I also ran into impostor syndrome in my career and sometimes would not speak up about ideas I had because I questioned if they were good enough. That is often a female trait that holds people back. I learned to carry out my ideas and saw success when I did, even if it was an unorthodox approach. Especially for women, never think you are less than others. Stand up and be seen. Performance is important, but you also have to make sure your good performance gets seen.
Q: You have successfully managed large global teams of people. What do you consider to be the most important attributes of a good leader?
A: I would reinforce the ‘listen to learn’ mindset I mentioned earlier, but in addition to that, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for leaders to truly know their team members. Learn about their lives, care about them, and include many levels of the organization in meetings because everybody wants to be part of the intellectual action of decision making—it drives everyone to care about the outcome.
Also, good leaders celebrate small wins along the way to big ones and they are not afraid to give honest feedback, whether positive or negative. Everyone wants to know where they stand.
Q: Do you have any favorite fashion designers or brands?
A: I’m traditional, so I love Chanel when it comes to luxury brands. I also like Eileen Fisher and COS, which puts a little edge on basics, and I’m a fan of Veronica Beard.
Outside of fashion, I think Apple is an amazing brand because they have found a way to reinvent themselves constantly but remain faithful to the brand essence.
