Advisory Board
Anna Nocon is an MBA graduate from ESEEC Business School, Luxury Brand Management, with 17 years of experience in the fashion/luxury industry and model management worldwide.
Anna started her career in luxury as a high fashion model represented by IMG worldwide, working for some of the biggest industry players in all around the globe, including Vogue, Dior, Van Cleef and Arpels, L’Officiel, L’Oreal and many more.
After a successful modeling career, she moved to different areas of the industry – translating her experience into fashion PR, casting & event production and model management. Establishing her own production company and NGO, she was always committed to promote new talents in the industry. Since 2012 she’s been working with Chinese companies -in 2014 moved to China full -time, where she acquired international talents for Chinese market. Later, she moved to booming ecommerce sector, working for ELLEshop China, part of Hearst Media Group. In Business Development & Content Management position, she developed a deep understanding of China’s fashion and digital marketing scene. Combined with other Asian market experience, Anna often consults for brands and startups on marketing and market entry strategies. On the side, she likes to get involved with new initiatives – especially in the field of fashion tech, new marketing and circular economy.
Looking one step ahead, she just recently joined a rising, Netherland based startup, providing AI powered solutions for fashion e-commerce – Lalaland.ai Anna is a strong believer of change as the only constant, and luxury should embrace the future.
Ashok Som is full-Professor of the Management Department at ESSEC Business School. He is one of the pioneering thought leaders in designing organizations and an expert in global strategy.
He is author of more than110 cases, articles and books, such as The Road to Luxury: The New Frontiers in Luxury Brand Management (Wiley 2021; 2nd Edition; translated in Mandarin); International Management: Managing the Global Corporation (McGraw Hill, 2009) and Organization Re-design and Innovative HRM (Oxford University Press, 2008). His current research is on creative industries focusing on luxury, movie and art industry.
He is a regular speaker in international conferences and consults with European and Indian multi-nationals. He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.
Laurence is an expert about diversity and decoding cultural differences. After 5 years working for the French Government on diversity and equal opportunities issues, Laurence moved to Hong Kong in 2008 and founded Cherry Blossoms Market Research & Consulting, with the ambition to bridge the gap between East & West.
Cherry Blossoms is helping Western brands in beauty, hospitality, jewelry & watches, fashion, and wine & spirits to understand cultural differences between Asia and the West, so they can better resonate with Asian consumers.
Laurence is currently based out of New York City. She is a frequent keynote speaker on China and marketing Eg. China Connect, W.I.N forum, French Chamber of Commerce, Sotheby’s/Jingdaily, major international business schools & universities
Laurence graduated from HEC School of Management, holds Master’s degrees in Humanities & English from the Sorbonne University and degrees in Mandarin from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and INALCO (Paris).
Lidia Szczepanowski, Esq. exemplifies the real-life embodiment of the words “success, independence, entrepreneurship and glamour”. Lidia has acquired a plethora of knowledge over the years in her roles as a litigation attorney, business strategist, entrepreneur, media producer and host, keynote speaker, black belt in karate, and international beauty queen. Most importantly, she is passionate about “giving back” through proactive “hands-on” participation in philanthropy and philanthropic activities.
Philanthropy and playing an active role in the improvement of the human condition have long been Lidia’s most consuming motivations. In 2007, she founded the National Organization for Women’s Safety Awareness (NOWSA), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit that helps raise awareness about the frequency of sexual assault and other forms of violence and harassment against women and teens in our society and initiates calls to action that help stop it.
Lidia’s 30 plus years of legal expertise has a well-deserved reputation of excellence, and she provides smart, high-quality, and sensible legal and business solutions to new businesses, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Lidia has appeared in numerous media outlets as a legal, personal safety expert and entrepreneurial consultant and has been a keynote speaker for educational institutions and other organizations. In addition to her winning record as a lawyer, black belt, women’s lifestyle and personal safety expert, and entrepreneur, Lidia has also managed to incorporate some glamour into her life. She holds the titles of Mrs. New York
America 2006, Mrs. New York International 2009, Mrs. Corporate America 2013, and, in 2017, she won the international title of Ms. World Elite.
Lidia is also the owner of Everything Lidia, Inc., a multi-platform luxe lifestyle enterprise that celebrates smart, stylish, stiletto-clad women & all their fabulousness. The company is devoted to providing practical and thought- provoking information, insights, and products which encourage women to live even more successful, passionate, fulfilling, confident, safe, and glamorous lives. Everything Lidia, Inc. offerings include the award winning SCULPTURA® [Sculpt-It- Your-Way] Shapewear clothing line.
Lidia has been presented with numerous awards and accolades including the prestigious FABcon Top 100 FAB (fashion, apparel, beauty) Leaders Award, Long Island’s Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business, Woman of Distinction Award from the New York State Assembly and “Best Corporate Communicator” Award by the Fair Media Council.
Lidia continues to use her growing celebrity status, extensive legal background, vast business and leadership skills, practical marketing, management and public relations knowledge, and approachability to make a positive difference in people’s lives by educating and motivating them to realize their true self-worth and reach their maximum achievement potential while enjoying the ride and attaining genuine happiness.
Ryan Armstrong is based in NYC and is the current Director of Strategy & Business Development, working with the Executive Leadership Team to help define and drive strategic priorities across the global business. Prior to working at Ralph Lauren, Ryan worked at Bain & Company in the NYC office and in the Milan office, specializing in the Fashion & Luxury practice. During his almost 4-year tenure at Bain, Ryan worked across industries and capability areas, including: growth strategy, merger integration planning and execution, value creation planning, cost optimization, business transformation, due diligence, organizational redesign, and data analysis. He spent a year working in the Private Equity practice; he also helped build NPS Prism, a benchmarking tool for measuring customer experience at all levels of the customer journey. Ryan received his MBA at Cornell University, Johnson School of Management, including a strategic marketing immersion program. Ryan also spent a semester of his MBA on exchange at HEC Paris to explore the luxury academic curricula. Ryan takes pride in being a passionate champion and thought leader for the organizations he works for and enjoys developing others to build themselves and the business. His self-described core values are: resilience, servanthood, and learning.
Eleonora Cattaneo (eleonora.cattaneo@glion.edu) is Professor of Marketing and Director of the MSc and Executive Masters in Luxury Brand Management at the Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland. She is co-director of the Global Executive Masters in Hospitality Leadership a joint programme with ESSEC. Eleonora combines professional marketing and academic expertise with decades of advisory experience spanning fashion, luxury hospitality, technology, automotive and higher education. She is an impartial and influential communicator who helps organisations grow and internationalise and has spearheaded luxury brand revivals and repositioning to improve image and equity. Eleonora engages with multi-level stakeholders, promotes sustainability, benchmarks excellence and oversees complex re-launches. She has experience in optimising talent acquisition, retention and progression.
Eleonora’s research interests are focused on luxury brand management and, in particular, brand revival, brand collaborations and sustainability. She has recently edited a volume on luxury brand management published by Kogan Page in 2023. Her areas of luxury research are: rebranding, heritage branding and sustainable buying behaviour. Her work has been published in Journal of Brand Management, Long Range Planning and Strategic Change, among others. She is a senior fellow of the UK Chartered Management Institute and fellow of the Swiss Center for Luxury Research.
