mornin’ merry makers 🎀💅👛🌸💖

let’s take it back to a very specific flavor of new york city:

the late 2010s, where peak millennial pink magic was everywhere.

it was avo toast, skinny jeans, & mission-driven marketing all day long.

today’s behind the stores (bts) guest, emily hollender, was living the dream & building the dream. she worked at the most zeitgeisty female focused startups of the time: rent the runway (the first time we all paid to share clothes), the wing (the chic coworking spot of pink velvet couches & terrazzo tables), & tia (the healthcare clinic that finally got us ladies & our cold feet).

i miss those days dearly.

i still use my “women doing whatever the fuck they want in 2019” wing keychain.

proof that emily was successful her in work.

emily was building community-centered strategies before it was the hottest buzzword on linkedin. today, she runs her own consulting firm, next wave marketing partners, helping brands grow through their most valuable channel, community.

so grab your board bc we're surfing past surface-level tactics
& diving into the sweetest swells of strategy!

bts q&a: emily hollender

Q1: can you share a little bit about you and the work that you do?

Hey! I’m Emily—an integrated marketer, community builder, and surfer. I spent a decade working inside marketing teams at high-growth consumer startups like Rent the Runway, The Wing, and Tia. Now, I apply my community-led growth playbooks to early-to-mid-size startups looking to sustainably grow through my consulting practice, Next Wave Marketing Partners. 

Q2: you’ve worked at some iconic startups. what’s one lesson from those experiences that you carry with you today?

My passion for marketing and community-led growth started in retail, actually! I joined Rent the Runway as a Retail Analyst, where I was part of the small and scrappy team expanding our brick-and-mortar footprint across the US. In true startup form, I rolled up my sleeves and got a crash course in all things retail. 

My role ranged from overseeing our retail performance data, to developing our store experience training and building our community events strategy as we evolved our stores from sales centers to community and customer experience hubs. Above all, I spent a lot of time in our stores—and the on-the-ground insights I gathered from our team and customers were invaluable. This early career experience of being close to the customer inspired my community-centered thinking that I continue to apply to this day.

Q3: how do you define "community-led growth" and why is it particularly important for retail brands?

you’ve made it to the good part 😎