After nine years in business, Brother Vellies founder Aurora James felt like it was time for strategic growth.
Now Ghahramani will look to take “what Aurora has built to the next level,” she said. “What she has built has authenticity, community and values. She built the company values that resonate with what I stand for — I have championed women my whole life so to be able to do that and to have an impact as well as grow the business is an incredible opportunity.” Prior to Weitzman, Ghahramani held senior marketing roles at Gucci North America and Ralph Lauren.
James felt that Ghahramani was the best candidate for the job because “she stood out as someone who truly gets it — she understands the brand and what I am trying to do. As a woman and a woman of color, which is rare in the footwear industry, it was important to have a woman’s point-of-view [in the role].”
The subscription service’s unexpectedly quick success meant that Brother Vellies’ store became a multipurpose environment — part fulfillment center, part office and also a store. “The pandemic made it difficult because we were scaling so quickly. Our cloud socks completely took off and the store ended up being a multipurpose space and not so much a retail store in the conventional sense.