PATTERN Beauty Co-CEO Christiane Pendarvis

We are excited to recognize Christiane Pendarvis with PATTERN Beauty on our List of People Shaping Retail 2024, a passionate and enthusiastic leader who has been in retail since the beginning of her career.  

We had a chance to ask Pendarvis 20 questions about her career, the retail industry, and advice she would give her younger self or those looking to grow their careers in retail. Here are a few of her responses.  (Watch video for full interview) 

What was your first job?  

My first job was when I was in high school and I was a teen board model for JB White department stores, and I imagine there are probably not that many people who are familiar with JB White department stores. I did back to school fashion shows and other fashion shows during the year, and I ended up developing a really great relationship with the marketing director at JB White. I did side work for her, helping her with events, and I credit that time as part of the reason why I'm so passionate today about the retail industry. 

Why is retail the industry that you picked for your career? 

I didn't initially pick retail as the industry for my career.  I had an economics degree. Most of the people were going to go work either as consultants or on Wall Street as investment bankers. I did the full round of interviews on Wall Street, and I thought to myself, at the end of that day, "This isn't right for me." 

I was fortunate that there were a couple of retailers who came onto campus. They were interviewing for people for their buyer or merchant training programs, and I thought, "Okay, well I'll go to a couple of those interviews." And that's when I realized you can take something that you're interested in and passionate about and really combine it with your interest in business. And that for me is what retail really is all about. 

What career advice would you give your younger self?  

The single biggest piece of advice I would give myself is to be bold. Be bolder than you think that you're capable of being, go after opportunities that you feel like are going to stretch and challenge you, that you may believe you're not quite prepared for. It is in those moments when you're really pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone, that you uncover just how capable you really are and that you escalate your growth and your development. 

What qualities do you look for in your employees?  

The most important thing I look for in people is passion. You've got to have that energy, that excitement, that drive, to be successful in retail because it's a very competitive industry.  I also look for people who have ideas, who are thought starters, who know how to take initiative. You're going to get an advantage by being forward-thinking and being innovative in everything that you do. 

The other thing that I look for is curiosity. That is so mission-critical and important. You learn when you're curious, you ask the second, third, or maybe even fourth additional question, to make sure that you really understand the situation. You're curious about your customer or your guests. You're curious about trends that are happening in the industry. You're curious about whether there's a better, more efficient way of doing things. Curiosity will lead you to making better decisions. 

How does your company and the retail industry overall, impact people in every community every day?

Retail has such an impact on consumers across communities across the globe. Whether it's you're selling groceries, home supplies, apparel or beauty, we touch billions of people every single day. And so, the quality of the product that we deliver, the quality of the experience that we deliver, the ease of shopping and delivery of product, all of those things really matter a great deal in consumer's lives. It's not lost on me the outsize impact that we have. 

If a mother with kids is having a hard day and she's got to go to a grocery store to pick up something, the quality of that experience, the ease of her finding what she's looking for, the ease of her being able to check out - that's going to have an outsize impact on her. 

About NRF Foundation Honors

The NRF Foundation connects people to an industry that's a great place to start and a great place to grow. Since 2015, the NRF Foundation Honors has raised the funds to continue to provide programs and resources to help people build better lives and stronger communities.

Join us in New York City to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the NRF Foundation Honors and be a part of the story of how retail builds extraordinary careers.