Join us as Karen Ruenitz, co-lab member and Creative Director of product for Soludos, leads us in a discussion on starting a passion project or growing a side hustle with guest panelists Nardina Pierre, Michelle M. Rose, and Mirco Scoccia.
Karen Santoyo Ruenitz is the Creative Director of product for Soludos, a sustainable footwear brand. During her 15 years in the fashion industry, she has designed iconic footwear for fashion and lifestyle brands including Soludos, Loeffler Randall, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Tory Burch, and Helmut Lang. In addition to her role as creative director, Karen pioneered the Soludos Sustainability Commitments transforming over 70% of footwear to be made using Environmentally Preferred Materials per FDRA industry guide.
Nardina Pierre is a passionate retailer and content creator within the fashion space. Her experience within the retail industry encompasses leadership and stylist roles at Ted Baker, Canada Goose and Soludos. In addition to her work within the retail industry, she operates under the Instagram/TikTok handle, @nardinadeleon/@thenardinadeleon as a content creator with a focus on affordable fashion and accessories.
She has worked with brands such as Mejuri, Merit Beauty and Glamnetic. She has been featured on online publications, The Cut, Teen Vogue and FashionBombDaily. Nardina graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Fashion Studies from Montclair State University in 2016. Nardina encourages fellow retailers and content creators to pursue their personal goals and show up as their authentic selves.
Michelle M. Rose is a designer, musician, martial artist and connector of creative minds. Michelle spent more than 30 years training and teaching martial arts and self-defense, and over 20 years leading creative teams and designing performance fashion and apparel for the largest outdoor companies in the industry. With millions of her styles sold around the globe, if you’ve ever purchased outerwear from Columbia Sportswear or The North Face, it is likely you have one of her pieces in your closet…still.
Following her passion to lead and mentor others in creative development, Michelle cofounded Struktur Event in 2013 as the first creative conference for the professional design community of the active, outdoor, and urban industries. She is currently the founder of Struktur Society, a professional community for creators in art, design and music that includes in-person and online events (Struktur Event), podcasts and editorial content (UnStruktured), and design consulting (Struktur Koncept).
The mother of a very digitally-connected pre-teen son, Michelle spends her free time hanging out in VR just so she can keep up with him.
Mirco Scoccia founded O2 Monde out of the desire to merge his passion for art and design with his innate need to protect the environment and the world we live in. Born in Fermo, Italy - Mirco grew up in his father’s shoe factory, learning from a young age the business, patterns and cuts. His passion, talent, and drive led him to design for some of the most iconic brands such as Bottega Veneta, Tory Burch, and Cole Haan. Today he is dedicated to creating a lifestyle brand that gives consumers an option to choose luxury, sustainable products that help protect our collective future.
Café Co-Lab's are small, bi-weekly networking groups focused on specific topics. They are an opportunity for co-lab members to connect, share resources , and engage with other members.
All co-lab events are free to members. Zoom details will be posted on the day of the event in our private community Slack in the #cafe-co-lab channel. All questions can be directed to info@jointhecolab.com. To become a member and receive access to these exciting events, join us here.