Jessica Helfand, Ellen McGirt|Audio
December 3, 2019
S7E8: James Rhee
James Rhee is executive chair and CEO Ashley Stewart as well as the founder and president of FirePine Group.
Rhee took over Ashley Stewart, a 22-year-old clothing chain that had declared bankruptcy once and was spiraling toward liquidation, in 2013. He saw a company with limited resources, tremendous loyalty, and great potential — and need to persuade both doubters and supporters:
The hardest thing to do was with my own employee base and customer base saying, “No, no, I’m not here to save you. I’m here because I back people and causes with merit that just could maybe use one little helping hand.”
And so capitalism, it is effective, but it depends on who’s wielding the weapon.
Subscribe to The Design of Business | The Business of Design on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.
Special thanks to Starfish Media Group for use of excerpts from their documentary-in-progress about Ashley Stewart.
And a big thanks to our sponsor, Mailchimp.
Observed
View all
Observed
By Jessica Helfand & Ellen McGirt
Related Posts
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
Make a Plan to Vote ft. Genny Castillo, Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
Shifting Narratives ft. Moya Bailey, IllumiNative’s Crystal Echo Hawk, & #JoyToThePolls
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
The Halls and The Streets ft. Congresswoman Barbara Lee & One Fair Wage’s Saru Jayaraman
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
In the Work ft. L’Oreal Thompson Payton, Dr. Christina Bejarano, Dr. Wendy Smooth, & dancing
Recent Posts
Make a Plan to Vote ft. Genny Castillo, Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice Black balled and white walled: Interiority in Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”L’Oreal Thompson Payton|Essays
‘Misogynoir is a distraction’: Moya Bailey on why Kamala Harris (or any U.S. president) is not going to save us New kids on the bloc?Related Posts
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
Make a Plan to Vote ft. Genny Castillo, Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
Shifting Narratives ft. Moya Bailey, IllumiNative’s Crystal Echo Hawk, & #JoyToThePolls
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
The Halls and The Streets ft. Congresswoman Barbara Lee & One Fair Wage’s Saru Jayaraman
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio