Kelly Stickel spent the majority of her career focused on connecting people, cultivating women leaders, and building business development strategies in management consulting. Starting in recruiting, Kelly worked her way through vendor relations, business development, and alliance partnerships focused on marketing and commerce business problems in both B2B and B2C verticals. Now she is the founder and CEO of Remodista, a social think tank examining global retail disruption. A collaborative thinker, she is focused on understanding the layers of disruption in retail and translating insights into actionable items for retail brands using community as a business model. Read our interview with the lovely Kelly below…

What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?

In 2010, I was building conferences focused on mobile technology and retail brands. At the time, the conversation was focused on SMS and MMS, which was very basic. I also did not like the way conferences were being organized. I was motivated to put education first, while my male leadership had sales as the priority with minimally focus on the education. I chose to study, break down and rebuild how we buy and sell technology in the retail industry; with a focus on the modern buyer preferring collaboration and education.

Tell us about your business, Remodista…?

Remodista is a social think tank examining disruption in global retail. Our mission is to provide insight, education and innovation to global brands through collaborative research and analysis.

Where is Remodista headquarters located?

Chicago, Illinois.

What were the first few steps you took to get your business, Remodista up and running?

I put together a retail committee that could help me shape the business according to their needs using community as a business model.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?

We are still a word of mouth and grass roots marketing, so the best way to amplify that is through collaboration.

What have been your biggest challenges so far?

Figuring out the right business model, and the right products that are scalable.

How did you overcome these challenges?

To test as much as I could and make mistakes so I could find the best solutions.

How do you keep motivated through difficult times?

One habit of mine is to work and stay focused even when I am not inspired to do so.

How did you distinguish yourself from your competitors?

There aren’t any competitors doing what I am doing. Community as a business model is a new concept that allows an ecosystem to do business together while creating guardrails and parameters that allow the group to focus on a greater purpose for the better of all.

What is the best advice you have received recently?

Recently, someone encouraged me to not give up, and reminded me that building something new is usually a challenge in itself.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?

Make sure you are really passionate about your idea because it takes a lot of will and focus to get it moving.

What is your favorite business tool or resource?

Favorite tool is the web. There is endless searchable data and resources to help you build your business.

What social media outlets do you use? List them below.

Website www.remodista.com
Instagram @kstickel @remodista_culture
Twitter @Remodista @Bricksandmobile @kstickel

What is a good article or book you have read recently?

Dan Millman’s “Everyday Enlightenment”.

 What are you currently learning about for your business or looking for help with?

Right now we are learning that the outcomes of our business are powerful in the retail community, and we are looking at how Blockchain could be used to scale the community.  It would be great to hear from any experts in this innovative area.

What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?

I am currently looking at technology platforms that can scale Remodista. Also, we launched year two of our Women2Watch program and are looking for partners to sponsor the program. Our partners are anyone who provides technology or services to the retail vertical.