At Generation Love Clothing, our mission is to create clothing that empowers women to feel confident, motivated, and ready to achieve their goals, while cultivating a community where they feel uplifted and supported. As part of this mission, we’re introducing our "Empower Hour" Q&A series. Through these interviews, we’ll be highlighting women who inspire us with their achievements, whether they’re leading companies, excelling in high-level positions, or balancing the responsibilities of managing a household. This series is about celebrating self-confidence, positivity, and the many ways women define success. Welcome to Empower Hour!
In our latest interview, chief merchant officer Claudia Lima-Guinehut joins us to share her experience in leading a major accessories and jewelry company, her 25-year career in fashion, and how she integrates empathy and leadership in her role. Claudia discusses the importance of fashion choices in her professional life, expressing confidence through "power clothes" and being mindful of cultural contexts. Her unique perspective on fashion and leadership challenges conventional views on career and style.
R.H: Hi, everyone! I'm so excited to be sitting down with Claudia Lima-Guinehut to talk about her amazing career in fashion and in leadership roles. Claudia, hi!
C.L.G: So nice to be here, Roni. Excited to be talking to you today.
R.H: Thank you!
R.H: Tell us a little bit about what you do currently.
C.L.G: I'm a chief merchant officer at a major accessories and jewelry company. I've been in retail my whole career, and in fashion nearly 25 years now. It's incredible that I'm actually saying that out loud. I love what I do. I basically lead design, sourcing, merchandising, and merchandise planning functions, along with visual merchandising and technology, organizational transformation, and everything basically that happens within a large organization that's consumer-facing. So, it's super exciting. It's very dynamic. Agility is super important. Being a woman brings its challenges, but it also offers benefits in my role.
R.H: What kind of benefits?
"I think that women are underestimated for the power of empathy, and empathetic leaders tend to create more buy-in within organizations. I like to say that before you can have accountability and empowerment, you need trust, and that trust is much more easily earned from a leader who has clarity, has a vision, but is also empathetic."
R.H: I love that. I totally agree. Actually, how do you feel your fashion choices and what you wear to work play a role in your daily life?
C.L.G: Oh, well, it has a lot to do with how I'm feeling, what I'm doing that day, who I'm seeing, and how I want to show up, not only for myself but to the world. If I'm having a very casual meeting where it's a very intimate setting, I will probably be more casual. If it's a very high-stakes meeting with other senior leaders across the industry, you know, I will put on my power clothes.
R.H: What does "power clothes" mean to you?
C.L.G: Power clothes to me is anything that really makes me feel confident, whatever that might mean. One day it may be a dress. Another day it may be a pantsuit. The next day it might be leather pants. You know, it depends on the day, the timing, what's going on in fashion, the season, obviously. Yes, obviously the location—the location, very important—the country, exactly, the city, the culture, all of those things come into play. And, you know, for someone like me, who travels a lot for work, who has a lot of international partners, culture and all of those things play a big part of it. So, being mindful of the culture that you're in, and the social norms and everything else. But, yeah, I mean, fashion is, I think, my first outfit that then allows me to outwardly express my confidence.
R.H: It's like, kind of judging the book by its cover, but in a positive way.
C.L.G: Being in fashion and being in these roles for such a long time, there's something to be said about "do the role, at the role, look the part before the part is even yours," right?
R.H: Absolutely.
C.L.G: And that's very important, because at the end of the day, we do live in a society where perception matters, and perception is something that, you know, you can absolutely control with your fashion choices and how you want to—what matters more to you—how you are your most authentic self, whatever that is, right?
R.H: Being comfortable.
C.L.G: Absolutely.
R.H: In what you're wearing and conveying a message.
C.L.G: Yeah, exactly.
Don’t miss the full interview with Claudia Lima-Guinehut, where she talks about her role as a chief merchant officer, the influence of fashion on leadership, and the role of empathy in her dynamic career.
