As Zulily’s chief merchant, Lori Twomey oversees a merchandising team of 500 people. But that wasn’t always the case. She joined the e-commerce site for children’s and women’s apparel in 2010, when it was in its infancy.
Zulily CEO Darrell Cavens credits much of the startup’s rapid growth over the past six years to Twomey. “Lori has continued to demonstrate that she is one of the most knowledgeable, smartest and hardest working people that I have ever worked with and she is one of the few leaders who has been able to grow with the rapid scale of the business, from a tiny five-person startup to a $1.4 billion business,” Cavens said in an email.
Twomey has seen Zulily’s merchandising team through the early startup days to its $2.4 billion acquisition by QVC last year.
“My goal is to help inspire a customer-first mentality, focused on providing a unique and entertaining shopping experience with daily newness,” she said. “To date, our team has run 15,000 brands on the site and launches about 9,000 products a day.”
We caught up with Twomey for this installment of Working Geek, a regular GeekWire feature. Continue reading for her answers to our questionnaire.
Current Location: “My office is located at our zulily headquarters in Seattle, WA but I often travel to our other locations and fulfillment centers in Ohio, Nevada and Pennsylvania as I think it’s important to our overall collectiveness. It’s an exciting time to be working in Seattle with our unique mixture of household retail brands, expansion in tech and flourishing start-up community.”
Computer types: “I use a Lenovo laptop for work.”
Mobile devices: “iPhone 6S, iPad Mini, iPad Pro.”
Favorite apps, cloud services and software tools: “zulily, of course!”
Describe your workspace. Why does it work for you? “I have two offices within our corporate headquarters that I switch between on a weekly basis. Each office is surrounded by stuffed animals, which make me smile when I walk in every morning! They are on separate floors, which allows me to sit close to different parts of our 500-person merchandising team for increased productivity, collaboration and inspiration. I have an open door policy with everyone and want to make sure I’m accessible to all divisions of my team.”
Your best advice for managing everyday work and life? “When managing your everyday work and life, make sure you have a passion and love for what you do in both areas. For me, work and play have always melded together. Due to the nature of this industry, the retail environment and customer behavior is ever changing. This requires a focus on being innovative, staying ahead of competition, and always putting my customer first, but I always try to have fun with it.”
Your preferred social network? How do you use it for business/work? “For business, I use LinkedIn to network and read about industry trends and updates.”
Current number of unanswered emails in your inbox? “zulily is a daily business, with a new assortment of approximately 9,000 products going live every morning on our site. We move on “zulily time,” which is an incredibly fast pace, so there are always emails coming and going. I try to ensure I have answered all my emails before I go to bed and scan my emails when I get up in the morning to make sure I haven’t missed anything crucial.”
Number of appointments/meetings on your calendar this week? “We are always looking for new ways to surprise and delight our customers, while collaborating across all areas of the business. This week I have about 30-plus meetings on my calendar, but this can vary from week to week depending on the needs of the business. Our team’s ability to move quickly and creatively to make things happen ensures these meetings are essential, productive and oftentimes, fun!”
How do you run meetings? “I try to run meetings as informally as I can, but I always aim to have an agenda attached to ensure we cover what’s most important. I’m not a big fan of formal presentation decks, unless they are helpful for the audience of that particular meeting. I try to make sure our meetings are focused and necessary for the overall success of the business, and I definitely avoid having meetings to talk about an upcoming meeting. I host a weekly team meeting, given the size of my team, to make sure we’re always transparent about the wins, opportunities and what’s happening at large. I try to make them fun and entertaining, too!”
Every day work uniform? “I try to stay classic, chic and comfortable – heels, jeans and a cashmere sweater. Working in retail, and especially with zulily’s fresh and fun culture, my colleagues also inspire me to mix new trends into my personal style.”
How do you make time for family? “Good question! Finding balance between professional and personal life is always difficult to achieve, so it’s something I am continuously working on. My husband and I make a goal to spend at least one day on the weekend together, unwinding and spending quality time with one another, whether it’s a relaxing night at home or a fun day out on the water.”
Best stress reliever? How do you unplug? “My best stress relievers come from exercise and spending quality time with friends and family. I love running, biking and Pilates to prep or unplug from a busy day. I also enjoy cooking, traveling, boating and indulging in a nice bottle of wine.”
What are you listening to? “Currently, my favorite ‘happy song’ I love listening to is Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling.’ It’s a fun, upbeat way to liven up my work commute. If I’m going for a run, my go-to artists are Maroon 5 or Matchbox 20. Those guys got me through seven marathons!”
Book on your nightstand (or e-reader)? “I just finished reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr on my e-reader. I am currently working on A Man Named Ove by Frederick Backman and Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben.”
Night owl or early riser? What are your sleep patterns? “I get approximately 5 hours of sleep per night and am the definition of an early riser! I’m up by 4:15 a.m., meeting friends for a run or heading to the gym.”
Daily reads? Favorite sites and newsletters? “While getting ready for work I have my computer, iPhone, iPad and the TV on so I can see what’s happening as we launch the zulily site (which happens at 6am PST daily) and to see what’s occurring in the news. I try to scan as many news sites as I can in the morning to grab the headlines. I am out the door by 7 a.m. and in the office around 7:30 a.m., with the remainder of my daily reads involving my email inbox.”
Where do you get your best ideas? “I get my best ideas in a variety of places. Some ideas are inspired through traveling and experiencing new people, cultures and environments, while others are cultivated through brainstorming with our team on unique and innovative ways to drive the business. My daily commute can also foster new ideas while I drive in and out of work and reflect on recent projects and what we achieved or learned from that particular day.”
Whose work style would you want to learn more about or emulate? Warren Buffett.
What is the best advice you ever received? “Learn something new every day and apply it to tomorrow.”
What advice do you have for someone who wants to get into your industry? “Learn everything you can about the industry, take on projects/jobs that challenge your ability and take you out of your comfort zone, be inquisitive and resourceful, most of all know, embrace and love your customer.”
