The Retail Whore

Raised in Carmel, in a family of retailers - it's in Wish Walnut Creek owner Sasha Varni’s blood! Sasha worked for her mom's candle store growing up and during college. Lived in Italy for a short time after college, then moved to San Francisco, working for Sephora corporate, and then bareMinerals corporate doing marketing and producing their video content and commercials. She then moved to Walnut Creek the week before hav...

This week we welcome Bob Negen, co-founder of WhizBang! Retail Training. Bob is a retail expert, author, speaker, and business coach who motivates and trains independent retailers to improve and grow their businesses with actionable tactics and strategies. His proven systems and techniques consistently deliver measurable results in over 40 retail industries.

On this episode, Michelle & Bob discuss how he speaks to business owner...

This week we welcome Valerie (Val to her friends!) Wright, Brand Development & Sales Manager for Pixie Mood, a consciously leather-less, Canadian, female-led company.

Val has learned to use her Psychology degree, within the retail space, to really understand what people need and how to get into the mind & heart of what people want in the world of fashion. Val has always found it effortlessly organic when visualizing trends. ...

We are so excited to have Sean Jimenez, president of Socksmith back as a guest. A former retailer, now turned wholesaler, Sean has been in the industry for over 25 years. He now runs a great, multi-million-dollar novelty sock and design company based in Santa Cruz, California.

Take a listen as these two industry veterans Michelle catch up and talk about all things retail.

This episode sponsored by Opentobuy.co, they create RETAIL ROC...

Julie McCallum is the retail group editorial director and co-owner of Great American Media Services. She has been covering the specialty retail industry for more than 20 years. As a graduate of Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, Julie is passionate about reporting and telling the stories of makers and independent retailers – creating content that will inspire, inform and help them succeed in their businesses.

She also...

Meet Andrew & Chelsea Evans, co-founders & owners of Roaming Travelers. Launched in 2020, Roaming Travelers offers locals & tourists a curated boutique clothing shopping experience. It has grown to operate two retail locations in Joshua Tree & 29 Palms. Through hosting events & pop-ups featuring local or emerging designers and vendors, they have been able to provide a sustainable & eco-friendly shopping expe...

In 2022, Energy Muse is *the* crystal authority. But when co-founders Heather Askinosie and Timmi Jandro first started Energy Muse over 20 years ago, it was with just one necklace.

Heather, who had been traveling the world in the name of spiritual research for some time, had turned her Manhattan Beach home into a makeshift energy lab where she could test ancient holistic philosophies. She began tinkering with a formula to create the...

Erin Sarpa is the Creative Director at StationeryHQ.com, a wholesale Print On Demand company that specializes in custom stationery and gifts, serving creative small businesses. Erin opened a design agency at 23 years old, worked for all the big dogs in Silicon Valley and won awards while creating an all-women team. She joined StationeryHQ.com a few years ago with goals to grow a community as well as the company. Erin freaking loves...

This week is a solocast with Michelle informing listeners on what exactly a merchandiser does & how they can help your retail business. From storytelling to creating add-on sales to reinventing merchandise, these are some topics that Michelle will cover in this episode.

This week’s episode is sponsored by FINE LINES, a west coast wholesale rep agency with showrooms in Las Vegas and Seattle representing over 50 fabulous gift, fas...

Allison Carter and Catherine Hildner were two strangers who connected at a conference, turned into business besties, and a few years later saw a gap in the product based business space and decided to take action to fill it. In addition to the two businesses they run individually, Allison and Cat are the founders and hosts of Ultimate Product Party (UPP for short!). UPP is a 2-day creative conference that serves product based busine...

Hailing from North Dakota where her nearest shopping opportunity was over 300 miles away, Ashley Alderson longed for a place online to find and shop the boutiques she loved all over the country, together in one place.

“There must be a place for shoppers like me who love boutiques to find them all — and a place, boutique owners, themselves, can connect to find resources & grow,” Ashley thought. 

Ashley’s background in business, ma...

We have received so many inquiries online and in-person on how to start a podcast. Sharing is caring and we here at Team Retail Whore Podcast, also known a Host, Michelle Sherrier, Editor Katherine Khaloo and Digital Marketing Manager, Elisa Anthony talk about the inception of The Retail Whore Podcast and what we have learned along the way, the good AND the not so good (lost recordings!), tips (create a podcast about something you ...

This week we welcome Crystal Vilkaitis, founder of Crystal Media, a social media advertising and digital marketing agency she started in 2012. For more than 15 years, Crystal Vilkaitis has been helping retailers boost sales and drive more traffic through social media and marketing. Most recently she launched Crystal Uncorked, a podcast that features inspiring guests and interesting business conversations, over a glass of wine. She ...

This week we welcome retail icon, Iris Fuller, as a guest this week. After 20 glorious years of business, Iris Fuller’s glorious store, Fillamento, closed permanently in 2001. Fillamento opened in April 1981 and led the Fillmore District neighborhood renaissance in the San Francisco area as a successful commercial district. Take a listen as Iris talks the early days of Fillamento, taking on samples & consignment and how that ev...

February is often known for being a month dedicated to and all about love. This week we are excited to welcome award winning designer Kimberley Evans, creator of the out the box brands such as Pop Up Weddings by Lovely Weddings and the I Do Box, an inclusive wedding subscription box. Michelle had the pleasure of meeting Kimberley at last year’s Ultimate Product Party event and was so impressed with her presentation and what her pro...

This week we are thrilled to introduce to you Jane Park of Tokki, a company on a mission to ignite joy through gifting. They combine thoughtful technology with beautiful, reusable designs to make every gift unforgettable.

Michelle & Jane, a consumer tech entrepreneur, delve into family, her father’s incredible story as a young immigrant from Korea, to her building the online first beauty brand Julep, and to ultimately creating T...

A woman with big entrepreneurial dreams and a passion for uplifting other women - we're talking about Amanda Dare, founder + CEO of Woman-Owned Wallet.

Amanda founded WOW to give woman-owned brands a voice and a marketplace in NuLu Neighborhood of Louisville, KY. Now WOW has over 50 woman-owned brands sold in the Feminist Gift Shop! When she opened up the WOW shop in August of 2020, she realized just how many woman-owned shops ...

Nicole Chenault is the founder of the handmade drinkware brand, Fbombs & Booze and a 1:1 coach for Women owned handmade product businesses. Her products are sold on multiple e-commerce platforms for retail and wholesale. Their tumblers can be found in over 150 shops and boutiques internationally.

Michelle & Nicole discuss the unique stress working in retail brings and how she left a job in the retail grocery indust...