Creating new ways for companies to connect to customers physically and digitally
USA
Innovator, entrepreneur, Chief Pop-Up Architect™ and retail expert guiding companies through change and the future of retail
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About Melissa
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Continually pushing the boundaries of experiential retail, Melissa Gonzalez is an award-winning innovator, seasoned visionary, and brand storyteller. As Principal at MG2 and Founder of The Lionesque Group, an MG2 Studio, she and her team have pioneered the integration of physical environments and cutting-edge technologies, helping companies such as Tempo, Nordstrom, and Burrow foster foundational consumer engagement and evolve their offering.
Melissa is the author of The Pop-up Paradigm: How Brands Build Human Connections in a Digital Age and has produced more than 200 brick-and-mortar experiences across the country for both fast growing DTC and digital native brands as well as established retailers looking to think differently. Her projects are dedicated to creating immersive moments in a way that drives ROI and helps clients convey compelling stories to their audience.
She has received prestigious recognitions including: one of WWD’s “25 Most Influential Women Leaders of 2022”, one of the ‘Top 10 Women In Design’ of the year award by Contract Magazine, was recognized as one of the Top Voice in Retail by LinkedIn in 2019, and as design:retail’s ‘Top 10 Retail Design Influencers of the Year’ in 2018. Melissa has also been quoted in The New York Times, Morning Brew, Forbes, Glossy, and The Wall Street Journal and is creator and host of the Retail Refined podcast which explores the in-store technology of the future. A sought-after speaker, Melissa has presented at Shoptalk, World Retail Congress, NRF’s Retail’s Big Show, and Vogue Business Summit. When she’s not recording podcasts or dreaming up innovative retail spaces, Melissa can be found seeking inspiration in unexpected places (like skydiving from 10,000 feet).
From a trading desk to leading the industry’s shift to pop-up retail, learn how speaker Melissa leverages her skill set in business and finance to transition to a more creative endeavor. As your keynote speaker, Melissa will walk you through the twists and turns of her career and how her experiences along the way constantly informed her decisions and path to success.
Topics covered in this session include:
As the owner of multiple business as well as working and thriving on Wall Street, in a male dominated industry, Melissa understands the strength in takes to be a leader, an award-winning business owner and a woman all at the same time. In this keynote, she shares her experiences, her challenges and her triumphs. In this keynote she shares:
The consumer is evolving at a record pace. As a result, commercial real estate is being completely overhauled. Curating multi-use environments is helping but isn’t enough on its own to attract the brands and retailers of tomorrow.
In this session, speaker Melissa Gonzalez dives into strategies to position your company for the future of retail, including:
With technology advancing and reshaping today’s consumers at the speed of light, keynote speaker Melissa will lead you into the future and examine the forward-thinking trends that will impact the world of retail tomorrow. Customers want brands and retailers to know them better than they know themselves, regardless of how quickly they are evolving.
In this session, your team will learn how to leverage the key trends of today to answer the questions of tomorrow, including:
Technology is ever changing and your business should change with it.
In this informative talk, Melissa will share how your business can evolve along with the future of your organization’s market. You will learn:
Learn how an omni-experience approach to brick-and-mortar retail help brands unlock “super consumers” by bridging their online business to the physical world.
Via a dive into best-in-class examples of multi-channel retailers strategically meshing e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail, your audience will learn:
Recently we have had the pleasure of having a conversation with our exclusive speaker Melissa Gonzalez, here are some nuggets that she shared with us.
Why do clients typically hire you to speak?
Thought leadership in retail, especially in the physical world. There is a titanic shift happening in the way in which consumers interact with brands and retailers and I sit at the intersection of how that shift is changing brick-and-mortar retail. We help brands and retailers rethink what’s possible, how to reposition the purpose of physical real estate assets.
What are your 3 habits for success? How do you implement these habits into your everyday or weekly routine?
I make lists, prioritize and focus. We are constantly pulled in so many directions that it’s hard to keep track without lists. I am also sure to prioritize the items on my list, and then I carve out blocks of time on my calendar to ensure I allocate the space in my day to dedicate focus to key deliverables. I also interweave open windows of 30 min blocks to allow for space for things like lunch or spontaneous calls or conversations.
What keeps you inspired?
On a daily basis my daughter’s fluid creativity keeps me inspired. In retail, I carve out time to read design magazines, blogs and visit stores weekly. I love seeing what’s happening in the world on an international level and across sectors and industries. We can learn a lot from the hospitality world when it comes to retail for example; as with the entertainment world and retail.
What is the most unique experience you’ve had as a result of your job?
A couple of years ago I was invited to the White House to ideate around how initiatives can be implemented to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in this country. It was two power packed days of meetings with senior executives in business and government with individuals like Shari Redstone, Kal Penn, Senator McCain, founders of Dannijo and others. It was a unique opportunity to sit with leaders, innovators and decision makers to help affect change on a national level.
What are your tips to individuals who are struggling with creativity?
Leave your desk and go for a walk. Allow yourself to engage in real life, in your 3D world, and allow it to inspire you. There are a lot of great online tools like Instagram and Pinterest to provide inspiration but daily interactions, nature and life can be the best way to fuel creativity.
If you were to start your own retail business, what would it be and what would be the 5 key components that you believe would be fundamental for that business’s success?
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