Luxury Business Podcast: Recent Episodes
Elizabeth Solaru
Welcome to the Luxury Business Podcast. Each week you will hear mind blowing interviews with amazing luxury experts which will include actionable tips that you can implement to help your business and brand grow. I will also bring you the latest luxury business news from around the world with my take. So thanks for spending time with me today and I can’t wait to get started. I am your host Elizabeth Solaru, founder of the Luxury Business Emporium. Connect with me here: Luxury Business Emporium Website: https://luxurybusinessemporium.com/ Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-solaru-1ba901 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxurybusinessemporium/ Who is Elizabeth Solaru: Elizabeth Solaru is the multi award winning founder of Elizabeth's Cake Emporium and the Luxury Business Emporium. Recognised as one of the best wedding cake companies in the world, her company creates the most opulent and beautifully handcrafted cakes using the finest ingredients. A pioneer in the wedding industry, her creations have been featured in numerous national and international blogs and publications including Vogue, Tatler, Wedluxe, Brides, Strictly Weddings, The Telegraph, and Conde Nast BRIDES. Clients include British, European and Middle Eastern Royalty, celebrities and high net worth individuals. Elizabeth has appeared on the BBC, the Good Food Channel, BBC Radio and Sky Living as a luxury expert. She is also a regular on Sky TV being the only three times winner of The Great Cake Bake, a show which featured the best wedding cake makers in the country. Elizabeth is an international speaker and competition judge who travels the globe speaking to fellow cake makers, women in business, wedding industry professionals and other entrepreneurial groups. She presents on a number of topics ranging from her own inspirational creative journey from Microbiologist, and Headhunter to luxury cake maker, to successfully branding her company. Author of best-selling artisan cake book OPULENCIA, she has hosted The Cake and Bake Show and internationally has judged The Championnat de France de Cake Design, the French cake championships and for the last three years, the Italian Wedding Awards. Elizabeth is in demand as a sugarcraft expert and has also appeared on Sky Living's "Who'd Be a Billionaire" with her cakes appearing in films such as "My Best Friend's Wedding" by Sony Columbia Pictures. She was recently named as one of the world's "Masterful 100", a select list of the most excellent and masterful luxury experts and brands in their field and recently won Bridelux's Best Cake Maker award at the first ever global luxury wedding industry awards. She is also one of the experts at The London Finishing Academy. She is an advocate of maternal health and actively fundraises for Jeans for Genes Charity.
Doreen arrived in Manhattan to pursue a career at Estée Lauder and later Donna Karan Cosmetics & Home. It was there that she first fell in love with the process of creating, developing and accessorizing interiors.Those skills were later put to work when Doreen became assistant to world-renowned architect, Peter Marino. On project after project, she saw how structures come together and how the spaces within them come to life. After going on to study at the New York School of Interior Design Doreen founded her design studio in 2001.Named a Next Wave rising star designer by House Beautiful Magazine, Doreen draws on inspiration found in nature, fine art, theatre, fashion, food and travel. She designs sophisticated environments with a serene ambiance for her clients, where they can unwind, relax and recharge. Whether projects are large or small; the aesthetic contemporary or traditional, combining a global aesthetic with contemporary art, Doreen creates homes that are relaxed and welcoming.Professional Affiliations:Perez Art Museum Miami, Co-chair Art & Soul Black Art FundThe Decorators Club, Board MemberThe Decorators Club Education Fund, DirectorServicesEvery detail, meticulously managed. That's what clients have come to expect from Doreen Chambers Interiors. You may have no idea where to begin, but from your first meeting with Doreen, she will expertly guide you along the decision-making process, through creative execution and every finishing touch. You'll feel like you and your home are in the best possible hands.Design projects, large and small can be complex and stressful. Doreen and her team smoothly bring it all together for you. Utilizing the finest craftsmen, cabinet makers, painters, wallpaper hangers and stonemasons, you can count on superior workmanship and seamless service. Best of all, Doreen will manage logistics, oversee construction, and ensure quality control at every step.Doreen Chambers Interiors provides full-service residential interior design to clients in New York, South Florida and beyond.
Follow Doreen
https://www.doreenchambers.com/
https://www.instagram.com/doreenchambersinteriors/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doreenchambers/
Myrdith Leon-McCormack is the founder of World Bride Magazine, one of the first luxury bridal magazines for women from all cultures. She has evolved from one of the nation’s most successful Celebrity Manicurists, represented by Factory Downtown, to one of the most sought-after branding experts with her firm MLM Represents and as a Huffington Post blogger.
As the founder of MLM Represents, she oversees all practice areas and is involved in providing strategic direction to select clients. Her particular area of expertise is advising clients on how to best leverage their brand as an asset to serve as a powerful leadership tool and drive business performance.
Leon-McCormack’s innovative strategies to connect consumers more effectively by associating them with the world’s most influential celebrities, musicians, arts, film and personalities has been part of her incredible success to collaborating with some of the industry’s most influential people in the world of the arts, music, and film.
MLM Represents client list includes: Isaiah Washington, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lois Samuels–the Vessel, and Justin Davis. Her new business has afforded her the opportunity to travel the world to great countries such as Egypt, Qatar, Dubai, London, France, Ireland, to name a few.
Leon-McCormack’s creative vision and strong knowledge of the entertainment and arts has created yet another venture with the weekly radio show, Keep It Moving w/Marsha Jews on WEAA 88.9 FM, a national public radio station, as Executive Entertainment Producer.
As the Editorial Director of World Bride Magazine, she drives the magazine into the 21st century where visions of people of color are seen in a more positive and progressive direction.
Follow Myrdith
https://twitter.com/worldbride
https://www.instagram.com/myrdith/
https://www.instagram.com/worldbridemagazine/
https://worldbridemagazine.com/
Yemi Osunkoya is the Founder and Head Designer of the Kosibah brand. After obtaining a BA Fine Art (Textile Design) Degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria and Diplomas in both Womenswear and Menswear from Paris Academy School of Fashion, London, UK, Yemi Established Kosibah in London in 1991 and is now based in Brooklyn NYC.Even as a small child Yemi Osunkoya had an exceptional eye for detail. Mere minutes after attending weddings with his parents in his homeland of Nigeria, he would start sketching the elaborate designs he had seen adorning the bridal party, recreating everything from the bridesmaids’ parasols to the flower girls’ hemlines with the help of only pen and paper. Years later he turned that talent into a flourishing career in couture.Yemi counts among his clients, members of the British Parliament, senior staff of the British Royal Family, daughters of a member of the British House of Lords, members of Royal Families from Nigeria and Ghana, Actresses, Singers and other Celebrities.
https://twitter.com/YemiKosibah
https://www.instagram.com/yemikosibah/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yemiosunkoya/
https://kosibah.com/the-founder/
Today I am absolutely thrilled to interview Harriet Hunt, Founder of Hunt Communications. She is someone I admire greatly due to her work ethic and client centred and considered approach in the field of luxury marketing and PR. She works with some of the world’s most authoritative press, high-level influencers and thought-leaders to position the brands she works with strategically.
Her experience across the luxury sector, particularly in fashion and lifestyle, travel and hospitality, interiors and bridal brands, means that she is able to offer her clients innovative solutions that come from the cross pollination of their different intellectual capital.
Once she establishes what your purpose and your why is, she will suggest ways to communicate it in a way that resonates and creates a deep emotional response in your target audience. Harriet also co-founded the charity, Duty to Care, an organisation that provides wellbeing support via online consultation to improve and sustain the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare professionals.
Follow Harriet Hunt
https://twitter.com/Hattie_Hunt
https://www.instagram.com/hunt_communications/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriet-hunt-a405b116/
hunt-communications.com
Alastar Callender designs priceless memories on the world’s finest yachts: curating tailor-made luxury Vacation Experiences and Retreats. Alastair has access to every superyacht on the global charter market from about $10,000/person for a week on an 80ft yacht, up to the largest yacht on the market that is currently for charter, which is 446ft (136m) that is about $4 million/week. These yachts are located across every region of the world.Having been directly involved in over 40 superyacht sales during his career to date, Alastair also advises clients on superyacht purchase, ownership, sales and new build projects.Originally from England, he has since launched the Americas region for a boutique Yacht Charter Vacations & Sales Brokerage firm, that has headquarters in Monaco since 1962.With his personal brand of “The Yacht Tailor”, it is a fantastic metaphor to help demonstrate the level of detail and tailor-made approach that Alastair provides for every client’s yacht charter vacation, purchase, sale and new build project. This gives the visual of the same attention to detail as that perhaps of a made-to-measure, bespoke suit from Saville Row in London.As the only Yacht Charter Vacations & Sales expert in the world that has won International Awards for Sustainability, and Innovation and Yacht Design, Alastair draws upon a career of globally distinguished success. He has been featured by The New York Times, The Financial Times, CNN, The Sunday Times & all major yachting media.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/AlastairCallender/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_yacht_tailor/
Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/@theyachttailor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/YachtTailor
Company Website: https://moraviayachting.mc/the-team/alastair-callender
Soliloquy – The Super-Green Superyacht
International award-winning superyacht design: https://vimeo.com/5756697
Digital Business Card: www.ContactTheYachtTailor.com
Small selection of yachts available on the charter market: https://moraviayachting.mc/charter
Contact Details: Mr. Alastair Callender – The Yacht Tailor
Yacht Charter Vacations & Sales Broker – The Americas
Born and raised in Boston, MA of Greek immigrant parents, and an alumna of Boston Latin School, and Boston College, Effie Panagopoulos is the first Greek woman in history to found a liquor brand. With a BA in French/Romance Languages, Effie had lofty aspirations of being a UN ambassador, and much to the chagrin of her traditional Greek mother, ended up in the spirits business. She has over 15 years experience marketing and selling spirits brands in the US from street to executive level, for some of the most well-known brands. (Chambord, Bacardi, Grey Goose, Bombay Sapphire, Metaxa, Disaronno). She finally became an “ambassador” when courted by Remy Cointreau to be the first (and only to date) National Brand Ambassador for iconic global Greek spirit brand, METAXA. It was this role that brought her back to Greece and re-ignited her love affair with the motherland. Her “eureka moment” was in 2008, at infamous Mykonos beach bar Nammos, coincidentally written about in VOGUE.com where she decided SHE would be the one to bring this product to the US, and has not only created Greece’s first luxury spirit brand, but has eyes set on being the “new” on having a bottle of KLEOS on every bar. To seek Aristotelean balance and personify her Spartan roots, she is a fitness enthusiast, certified personal trainer, former spinning instructor, and natural bodybuilder. She can be found deadlifting cases of KLEOS in the summertime, doing bicep curls with bottles of KLEOS, on the Greek islands, while writing bits for her next stand up comedy routine in between sets.She is passionate about mentoring the next generation of female entrepreneurs and supporting women’s charitable organizations.Follow Effie Panagopoulos on social media @greekspiritmuse
Reg Athwal is the Executive Chairman of The Athwal Organization & Family Office (TAO Legacy), and is the Founder & Chairman of RTS Global Partners (RTS: https://www.rtsgp.com); Founder & Chief Educator of the Family Business Academy (http://www.familybusiness.academy); and the Founder & Chief Mentor for latest venture and spin-off Fobillion, a private global advisory board and legacy club with UHNW Billionaire Families from 1st to 7th Generation located in 10+ countries. RTS has also invested in developing two EdTech platforms launching in early 2022 – the FamilyBusinessApp and Kinidify, to add value to millions of family firms.
Follow Elizabeth Solaru
Luxury Business Emporium Website: https://luxurybusinessemporium.com/
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-solaru-1ba901
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxurybusinessemporium/
Yasmine Torab, at 5 Star Wedding Directory began her career in the luxury events industry more than fourteen years ago. Working at the original 'Grand Hotel’ The Langham in London’s West End, Yasmine gained considerable hotel world experience by organizing Presidential, Ambassador and Royal events.
It was while working with the some of the world’s best suppliers that Yasmine found a gap in the luxury wedding industry – a lack of central hub where brides and planners could exclusively search for the elite and most highly recommended suppliers, from haute couture wedding dresses, remarkable venues, gourmet cakes, stylish photography and fabulous flowers, to the most sought-after wedding planners.
Yasmine Torab
https://twitter.com/5starweddings
https://www.instagram.com/5starweddings/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmine-torab-wedding-industry-influencer-465406a7/
https://5starweddingdirectory.com/
Follow Elizabeth Solaru
Luxury Business Emporium Website: https://luxurybusinessemporium.com/
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-solaru-1ba901
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxurybusinessemporium/
Ron Ben-Israel is one of the best known cake makers in the world. A true pioneer, he is the executive chef and owner of Ron Ben-Israel Cakes in New York City. He is known for his wedding and special occasion cakes and for his detail in sugar paste flowers. From 2011 - 2013, he also hosted the cooking competition TV show Sweet Genius, and he is currently a judge on Food Network's Cake Wars.
The Big Bake Castings
Follow Ron Ben-Israel
https://twitter.com/rbicakes
https://www.instagram.com/rbicakes/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-ben-israel/
https://www.weddingcakes.com/
Follow Elizabeth Solaru
Luxury Business Emporium Website: https://luxurybusinessemporium.com/
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-solaru-1ba901
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxurybusinessemporium/
Who is Ron Ben-Israel
EARLY LIFEBen-Israel was born in Israel. His mother was born in Vienna and was rescued from the ghetto by American volunteers, later immigrating to Israel. His father, Moshe, lost most of his family in the Holocaust, and survived Auschwitz. His father worked in the printing industry, while his mother worked in map-making for the government.Ben-Israel grew up in Tel Aviv. He loved baking in the kitchen as a child. He attended the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, specializing in dance.In the mid-1970s, he served as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. He gives credit to his Israeli military training for his later success, saying it gave him discipline and precision in his work.DANCING CAREERBen-Israel started a dance career at age 21, right after leaving the army. He specialized in modern dance. He danced with the Israeli dance companies Batsheva and Bat-Dor over a period of some 15 years, and toured internationally. Near the end of his dancing career, he moved to the United States.BAKING CAREERIn 1993, while living in New York City, Ben-Israel retired from dancing, in part due to having developed arthritis. He started a new career in cooking, doing temporary jobs making cakes and designing shop windows. In 1996, he fell in love with baking. He was discovered and mentored by Martha Stewart who saw one of his cakes in a window.Ben-Israel's confectionery pieces have been featured at the openings of the Mandarin Oriental, New York and The Ritz-Carlton and are part of events at other New York hotels including the St. Regis, the Pierre, and the New York Palace. Modern Bride, Town & Country, Martha Stewart Weddings, In Style, The New York Times, and Vogue have commissioned his cake designs. His television appearances include Martha Stewart, the Bravo Network, The Oprah Winfrey Show, the Food Network, and the Late Show with David Letterman.From 2011 to 2013, Ben-Israel was the host and judge of the Food Network competition show Sweet Genius.Ben-Israel is a Visiting Master Pastry-Instructor at The International Culinary Center in New York City. He teaches the Classic Pastry Arts class and the Cake Techniques & Design class his approach to sugar paste.
Angela Tunner is the Chief Editor of Eact Love Savor.
EAT LOVE SAVOR®️ International Luxury Lifestyle Magazine celebrates excellence and the high end of luxury, focused on Connoisseurship and Appreciation, inspiring and educating our community about true luxury through storytelling. We are a foremost advocate of intelligent, informative editorials, interviews and features with a feminine touch, and No-Advertising. Our prestigious platform is read by successful, sophisticated and discerning individuals and by luxury industry decision makers from around the world, with a spotlight on Europe.A trusted source for fine goods, services and experiences since 2010, featuring only what we truly love and that meets our criteria via our evaluation processes. EAT LOVE SAVOR® is named on the Top 5 Luxury Magazines, and listed in the Top 10 Best Sites for Luxury.
Dynamic Brand Workbook
Masterful 100 https://www.eatlovesavor.com/the-masterful-100-top-100-luxury-experts-and-brands-list/
Luxury Industry Webinar https://www.eatlovesavor.com/luxury-industry-talks/
Follow Angela Tunner
https://twitter.com/AngelaTLuxury
https://www.instagram.com/eatlovesavor/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-tunner/
eatlovesavor.com
Follow Elizabeth Solaru
Luxury Business Emporium Website: https://luxurybusinessemporium.com/
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-solaru-1ba901
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxurybusinessemporium/