We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dianne Vavra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dianne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

The most innovative thing I’ve done in my career was leaving my secure/exciting corporate job heading up press and celebrity relations for Dior Beauty and jumping into becoming a business owner. Leaving a brand with global name recognition, to open my own PR agency, representing female-founded start-up brands that no one had ever heard of.

And then, taking it a step further to live my ultimate dream of owning my own retail boutique.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started my PR career after graduating from FIT, working at Estee Lauder and ultimately Dior. It was a wonderful ride, heading up press and celebrity relations for 20 years and traveling the world with A-list celebrities including Sharon Stone, Natalie Portman, and Jennifer Lawrence.

After being in the corporate PR world for several decades, I decided to go out on my own and start my own PR agency. It was an immediate success and I’ve done that for the past 7 years – helping unknown indie brands to become known. It’s a challenge that I welcome. With no more unlimited budgets for events or outreach, one has to be clever and frugal in approach.

Last year, I decided to take things a step further and I opened a retail boutique called VAVRA New York in Huntington Long Island – carrying my two loves, a stunning curation of vintage accessories that I have collected throughout my international travels, along side unique, relatively unknown beauty brands, including my PR client brands.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I left Dior and started my agency, it was a humbling experience. While at Dior, everyone wanted to be my friend – be invited to fashion shows and events, and write about the brand. They picked up the phone on the first ring and responded to texts within minutes. Pitching a brand like Dior wasn’t that difficult. It was a quick eye-opener for me, to now be working with unknown brands. It was much more of a challenge to get press to respond to calls or emails – many editors with who I had forged 20 years of relationships, went silent. I no longer had grandiose “things’ to offer them, just kind gestures and really, really great brands that could be considered amazing new resources for them. There is a handful of editors who supported me in my new venture, as I had supported them for years. To these select few, I am eternally grateful.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Many of the small brands I represent struggle to gain a retail presence. When I decided to live out my dream and open my shop, I wanted to give them that opportunity in addition to my PR know-how. They now have a wonderful retail outlet and gain more attention that way through the shops’ press, social media, and client buzz. They love it and may have grown into quite successful brands with the internal funding now to expand their lines.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vavranewyork.com/
• Instagram: @vavra.newyork
• Facebook: Vavra New York
• Linkedin: Dianne Vavra

Image Credits
Courtesy of VAVRA New York