Tech Powered Luxury

Rachel Maguire is an Irish fashion designer and founder of independent fashion brand Rashhiiid, whose designs have been worn by global stars including Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, Megan Fox, Rosalía and many more. Rachel is a digital-first designer who’s viral faux fur hats, coats and accessories have put Irish design on the global map. Rachel was the first designer ever from the Grafton Academy of Fashion Design to create both of her collections completely out of recycled materials and today is working with the highest quality faux fur available to create luxury collections without an ethical compromise. In this episode recorded during Paris Fashion Week in March 2024, we talk about how fashion saved Rachel's life, the biggest investment she's made so far in building her business, how she created those viral celebrity moments and what’s next for Rachel and Rashhiiid. Follow Rashhiiid on Instagram and discover her latest collections on her website.

Smita Lasrado is an Indian born and raised former international model and co-founder of creative and talent agency Feat Artists. With a roster of clients that include Dior, Chanel, Jimmy Choo and Vogue, Smita is putting India and Indians on the fashion map: from collaborating with Dior on their pre-fall 2023 show which took place in Mumbai on March 31, 2023, to bringing India's top models to runways in Paris, Milan and beyond. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury, Smita shares how she was scouted as a model and ended up traveling the world with IMG, to going back to her geographical and professional roots by co-founding Feat Agency in Mumbai.

During the FuturePlus event in Paris on February 22nd 2024 brought to you by MAD Global in parntership with Tech Powered Luxury, host Ashley McDonnell sits down with a panel of four founders within the intersection of fashion, art and culture on the blockchain for a discussion on how technology is disrupting the meaning of expression, community, investment and even the perception of value. “Fashion, Art, and Culture on the Blockchain” is our topic of discussion and the four panelists are people who represent four very different corners of these worlds, which makes for an interesting discussion. With us on the panel we have: Ashley McDonnell, host of Tech Powered Luxury and moderator of the discussion Jean-Michel Pailhon, Co-Founder, Grail Capital Stephanie Abrishamchi, Co-Founder, PJPP Ismail Tazi, CEO/Co-Founder, CPG + Trame Daniella Loftus, Founder and CEO, Draup Jean-Michel Pailhon is Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at Grail Capital, which exists to make it easy, profitable, and safe for investors to collect digital art. Formerly at Ledger; co-founder of the NFT Factory Paris and France Fintech, Jean-Michel previously worked in financial services and capital markets at the NYSE and Euronext. Stephanie Abrishamchi, the co-owner of Private Jet Pyjama Party, also known as PJPP, a digital membership club bringing a global community together through experiences and a shared passion for the finer things in life. Stephanie has a background in luxury brand expansion focused on the Middle East and is also the founder and CEO of her wellness brand, InBloom Drops. Ismail Tazi, formerly a member and now the CEO of Crypto Packaged Goods (or CPG) which is a series of collectible NFTs facilitating access to networking and mentorship at the intersection of crypto and consumer while supporting nonprofits. Ismail is also the co-founder of TRAME, a collaborative studio and curated gallery to discover and collect limited-edition design and art with digital provenance. Daniella Loftus, also known as Dani, she is a digital fashion founder, influencer & investor with a background in mainstream tech. Dani started writing about digital fashion in 2020, pioneering the space of a digital fashion content creator (make sure to check out her Instagram account at “this outfit does not exist”) and soon after became a founding member of RED DAO. Dani’s digital fashion brand Draup believes that code is couture and requires craft and storytelling. Fun fact: Dani was the first person to ever sell a digital piece of fashion at Christie's. — This episode of Tech Powered Luxury is brough to you in partnership with FuturePlus by MAD Global.

This season has seen us dive into all elements and topics that are important in the world of luxury and tech today, across many different product categories: hair care, fashion, beauty, interiors, henna, knitwear, and new technological developments that impact these categories; from AI that can eliminate sizing inconsistencies within fashion to blockchain technologies combined with insurance for luxury goods to the role of social media in the luxury industry from the perspective of Instagram’s Head of Creators and a leading luxury creator. I’m often asked “how can I learn more about luxury and technology?”, from different types of people from all over the world, but in general almost everyone fits into 2 categories. The first category is pretty straightforward, people with little to no experience in this space, often students, who dream of landing a role at the crossroads of luxury and tech. The second category is moreso people who are either working in luxury OR tech already, and they know that understanding the other side will massively help them grow the business that they either own or contribute to. To be honest, there isn’t a one-shot online course or certificate that exists today that covers the crossovers of luxury and technology, which is why this podcast exists! For almost 8 years I have been teaching courses about luxury and tech, starting with very focused topics that only looked at certain components, and now as my own experience has developed, I can touch on broader themes and of course, bring in experts from all over the world to learn directly from them. So here, with this podcast, Tech Powered Luxury gives you a free online resource to learn about everything that happens within this space. Thank you for listening in to 3 seasons of Tech Powered Luxury, there's a lot more to come! Follow Tech Powered Luxury on Instagram.

Celia B is the ultimate fashion all-rounder. Growing up in a small town in Spain, she pursued a degree in communications, gained experience within agencies, and eventually became a jewelry designer and finally, a fashion designer, a creative director and a tastemaker. Celia B has managed to catapult her colourful fashion house into that much-coveted space of being an independent designer with full creative control, whilst building an engaged global community and her own in-house team across continents. With a long list of celebrity fans and a primarily direct-to-consumer business, Celia takes us behind the scenes of her fashion brand, sharing how she went from working in advertising to running her international fashion label between Spain and Shanghai: Celia B. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

David Klingbeil is building the ultimate data platform for luxury houses around the globe with his latest venture Submarine.ai. His 5 years experience at Google turning data into stories for major brands, a streak of serial entrepreneurship, giving 1000s of hours of lectures over the last decade on innovation and luxury means the NYU Adjunct Professor gives us a masterclass on all things tech and luxury in this week’s episode of Tech Powered Luxury. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Rylé Tuvierra is our first guest of 2024, and Tech Powered Luxury's first-ever guest to return for a second episode. Rylé's first conversation with Ashley McDonnell was the most shared episode of 2023, and we're back a year later to check in with the Arab and Asian businesswoman. This time, we dive deep into Rylé's humble beginnings: working 12-hour shifts at a 7/11 in Dubai, and how her dream of being a fashion designer led her to pursue the impossible until it became her reality. With a slew of big fashion names on her roster of campaigns and having attended fashion weeks across the globe with many more to come in 2024, Rylé shares everything from her reaction to finding out she was named on the Vogue Top 100 Innovators list to her recent press trip with Jean Paul Gaultier to Verbier, Switzerland. Sit back, relax and enjoy this eye-opening conversation which is available across all podcasting platforms and exclusively with video on Spotify. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Pietro Novelli is a serial entrepreneur from Italy who went from high school directly into the workforce, landing his first full time role at one of Italy’s most innovative banks thanks to an interview he did about his local start-up that emulated the business model of Groupon. From creating a digital agency and the world’s first TV programme on Facebook Live, to managing Digital Innovation at AXA and spending 5 years at Facebook in Ireland, Pietro has now combined his knowledge of luxury, technology, banking and insurance to launch a first of its kind: Vaultik, a platform that insures luxury goods from theft directly with the brand, recently announcing a $2.5 million seed funding round. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh is an Irish designer celebrated for her unique, bespoke creations with strong elements of fantasy, glamour and opulence. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury, I speak with Sorcha O’Raghallaigh about her life as a fashion designer. From closing the graduate show at world-renowned Central Saint Martins with a collection that incorporated bold, glamorous and fantasy-inspired pieces worn by circus-students on stilts to making the pages of Vogue magazine and being worn by Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Kate Moss and Madonna - Sorcha O’Raghallaigh pushes the limits of creativity and creates magic through fashion and jewellery. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by Farmhouse Fresh.

Mary Furtas is the Ukrainian entrepreneur and former fashion photographer behind the fashion-favourite party wear brand: Cultnaked. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury we hear from Mary about her mission to meet American supermodels at Paris Fashion Week - the ultimate muses of her brand, the Californian girls - in 2018, with a suitcase full of samples, how she connected with Bella Hadid in Hotel Costes and having her collections go viral when worn by Kendall Jenner and Megan Fox. Mary has persevered throughout the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, continuing to grow her brand into a powerhouse label that focuses on a D2C and influencer-led business. This is truly a masterclass on how to build a fashion brand in the digital age as well as a lesson in entrepreneurship and believing in your mission - both of which Mary embodies every step of the way. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Shana Chu started her fashion career in a division we don't see on the runway: protective garments. Nonetheless, the challenges she faced as a garment technologist are the same we see across the high street all the way to haute couture: sizing inconsistency. The challenge of having cohesive and aligned sizing within a single brand, nevermind across the entire fashion industry, seems to be an ever evolving and expanding issue which costs the environment, brands and the end customer in the form of waste, lost profits and dissatisfaction. Shana set out to tackle the problem of online returns, but later realised she wasn't addressing the root of the issue, which lay in the garment production itself. From her years visiting factory floors and seeing the misalignment from deisgner to production, she developed a platform that feeds information in real time, taking into account the composition of a textile to the environment of the room a garment is produced, all the way to any eventual dying processes that may impact the garment and how a garment will change after it has been washed. Shana explains why we're never the exact same size across our favourite brands, even when it comes to the same style of an item but in two different colours, and how she had her lightbulb moment while in the shower. Shana recently announced a fundraise of €700,000, backed by Delta Partners, Enterprise Ireland and Haatch, to expand Tailr and tackle sizing inconsistency for designers, brands and manufacturers alike. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Bijan Ghorbani is a master storyteller with an unwavering passion for enabling and empowering others. His Storytelling Masterclass has ignited the potential of over 9,000 of Googlers across the globe and within the tech industry worldwide, enabling them to elevate their leadership, negotiation, and influencing abilities. Tech Powered Luxury's host Ashley McDonnell first met Bijan while they both worked at Google's EMEA Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, within the French Large Customer Sales Team. Ashley attended one of Bijan's Storytelling Masterclasses which was such a huge success that the largest auditorium on the 8,000+ people campus was full, with Ashley having to watch the talk on a screen from a dedicated overflow room. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury, Bijan talks about how he was born and raised in France from Persian parents and from a very young age had a passion for computers and the internet. Bijan also had a talent and love for storytelling: as a child he would be the elected family member to tell stories about vacations, having the flair for creating suspense and drama. Surrounded by academics, Bijan's communication skills and love for technology created the perfect combination for a career in tech sales, where the objective of any meeting in a business context is simple: drive action. Bijan explains the main fears that people have around public speaking and how to overcome them, how as a sales executive he became the most in-demand public speaking expert at Google, and how the layoffs effected him and led to leaving California to return to Europe and starting a new professional chapter. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Lauren Ingram is the Founder of Women of Web3, a community helping women make the leap into the world of Web 3.0 through job opportunities, learning resources and connections. She is a marketing leader with experience in agencies and tech companies including Meta, where she was responsible for Meta’s multimillion-dollar program for female entrepreneurs, #SheMeansBusiness. As a consultant and founder of Women of Web3, Lauren helps businesses to win in Web3 by demystifying the opportunities in this space. Lauren also hosts the Women of Web3 Podcast where each week she interviews a different incredible woman making moves in Web3. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury, Lauren gives us an introduction to what Women of Web3 does, how she navigated layoffs at Meta which impacted her directly, and what a career in tech means for a new mother. Lauren has collaborated with some of the biggest brands in fashion and beauty, from a project she worked on with Tech Powered Luxury host Ashley McDonnell for a NFT activation for Carolina Herrera in Madrid and Rio, to Charlotte Tilbury, and as the brand ambassador for Shiseido. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Mario Maher and Joe Wilkinson are the co-founders and creative geniuses from Sheffield, England, behind the mystery box that's shaking up the luxury industry and tapping into the Male GenZ Market: Heat. Heat launched in 2019 with a simple goal: to provide 3 luxury items to their customers through exclusive drops. From low-tech beginnings to a high-tech expansion, Heat has evolved from an original goal of 100 boxes per drop to major luxury-brand partnerships and matching tens of thousands of Gen Z and streetwear enthusiasts with their super-hyped mystery luxury boxes. Each mystery box drop provides access to streetwear, fashion and luxury brands, often with products and collections from the archives that are no longer available on the market. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury, Mario and Joe talk us through their humble beginnings of hand selecting products to include in customers' boxes to leveraging AI and technology to scale their offering across the UK and USA. With a digital-first strategy and ultra-slick marketing, the Heat team achieves the impossible: creating demand for a mystery product. A start-up that has sparked the interested of all of the coolest brands on the market as well as investment form Antler and LVMH Luxury Ventures, this episode dives into the origins of the platform as well as it's objectives for the future. Tech Powered Luxury is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

Michaela O’Shaughnessy grew up in County Galway, Ireland. When her dream of becoming a doctor shifted towards embarking on a summer adventure in New York, the biomedical scientist found a city and new career that captured her attention: the world of social media and entertainment. Michaela has carved out a killer career at the crossroads of culture, entertainment, and tech, with globally recognized companies and events making up her resume. Arriving in New York City, she landed a dream role at MTV, walking red carpets and attending the Met Gala with a clear goal: bring new, young audiences into the world of entertainment through the medium of digital, and in particular, mobile. As the role of TV and print media became challenged by the rapidly rising accessibility of online channels, Michaela was climbing the ranks at major fashion publications like Teen Vogue and Glamour before joining Instagram’s social team, where she now leads editorial content. A creator herself, you can find Michaela on Instagram as @LifeofALadyBear to follow her journey in New York. In this episode, Michaela generously shares her advice on finding opportunity in New York, honing skills in both creative fields and business-driven environments, and how she finds balance between major events, internet celebrities, and a career in technology. Tech Powered Luxury Season 3 is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh.

In this bonus episode of Tech Powered Luxury, Ashley McDonnell talks us through her first month since moving back to Paris, France. Ashley started her first day back in the city for the Ireland vs. South Africa, Rugby World Cup match in Stade de France with Emirates, followed by Paris Fashion Week. During a week of attending shows and meeting designers in their showrooms across the city, Ashley had the opportunity to sit down with Irish, Ukrainian and Spanish designers Sorcha O’Raghallaigh, Mary Furtas of Cult Naked and Celia B, all of whom will have upcoming dedicated podcast episodes in this season of Tech Powered Luxury. After Fashion Week it was time to start a new job, find an apartment, and of course continue with weekly episodes of Tech Powered Luxury. Over the last month Ashley has had conversations with Niamh O'Donoghue (Head of Editorial and Social at Victoria Beckham), Carlota Rodben (2 times author and formerly within Open Innovation at Chanel, Laurent Piffaut (CEO and Co-Founder of Dweet, formerly at Dior, Chanel, Prada and Alexander McQueen), Pavan Ahluwalia-Dhanjal (founder of the world's first luxury henna bar at Selfridge's and IrelandsEye's Founder and Head of Design. Lastly, Ashley speaks about her biggest challenge to date which is just around the corner: trekking to Everest Base Camp in November 2023. We hope you enjoy this bonus episode of Tech Poewred Luxury. Tech Powered Luxury Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Farmhouse Fresh. #techpoweredluxury. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

IrelandsEye is an Irish knitwear brand that embraces technology, tradition, sustainability, and style. Founded over 35 years ago, the brand remains family-owned and creates premium knitwear at their production site in County Dublin, Ireland. Paul O’Sullivan, who is the Managing Director and one of the family founders of the brand, along with IrelandsEye Head of Design, Maria-Christina McPadden, share with us the origins of IrelandsEye, their creative and technical processes, and how their mission to create long-lasting knitwear has an inherently high-tech approach. Tech-Powered Luxury Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Farmhouse Fresh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pavan Ahluwalia-Dhanjal is a world-renowned henna artist, bringing an Indian beauty ritual to the globe with a luxury and digital-first approach. With two Guinness World Records for being the fastest henna artist on the planet, Pavan was also awarded the British Empire Medal in 2018. Pavan has collaborated with major celebrities, including Alesha Dixon, Rudimental, Ellie Goulding, Perrie Edwards, and Huda Kattan. She has created bespoke designs for international runway shows, including Manish Arora and Antonio Berardi during London Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week, and has worked with the BBC and ITV. Pavan is also the woman behind the first-ever henna bar in a luxury department store, with her space at Selfridges in London. In this episode of Tech Powered Luxury with Ashley McDonnell, Pavan shares the story of how she created her brand and elevated henna through a luxury and digitally-driven business plan. Tech Powered Luxury Season 3 is proudly sponsored by FarmHouse Fresh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From initially studying finance to pivoting to luxury fashion, Laurent Piffaut - Co-Founder and Co-CEO of luxury careers platform Dweet - has embraced the power of AI to empower a global network of luxury experts looking to match talent with opportunity. Laurent established himself as a leader within luxury, starting with a foundation in finance, entering L'Oreal Group as a Financial Controller before joining Chanel for almost 10 years, climbing the ladder internationally and reaching the position of Fashion Director of the Middle East & India. Laurent's commitment to developing his soft skills as a leader in luxury were successful, as he joined Dior in 2015 as General Manager for Central Europe, followed by Director roles at Alexander McQueen and Prada. Today, as a tech platform Co-Founder and CEO, Laurent has set himself a new challenge: scaling and connecting. Throughout his years within retail and brand management, Laurent noticed incredible opportunities in-house which brands struggled to find the talent for, as well as highly-skilled and motivated people who could not find the right opportunities. Through the Dweet platform, Laurent's goal is to streamline this process within the luxury industry, simplifying and speeding up the process by which brands and talents can be matched for short, medium and long term collaborations. TPL S3 is proudly sponsored by Farmhouse Fresh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carlota Rodben, a Zillennial global nomad and former prima ballerina based between London and Paris, has distinguished herself as a two-time author before the age of thirty, and an innovation specialist in the luxury industry. This week, Carlota's second book "Beyond Luxury" was published, reaching #1 on Amazon within Retailing Industry. Rodben began her career at the House of Chanel, where she established an innovation team and worked on cutting edge new concepts for the future of retail of the brand - the exact type of missions we love to discuss on the Tech Powered Luxury podcast! In this episode, Rodben synthesizes elements of technology, innovation, sustainability, and human-focused experiences to forge a vision of purpose-driven luxury. We discuss the mission behind her latest book and the ways in which technology can be the ultimate growth and sustainability driver for existing and emerging luxury brands. Her acclaimed debut book, “Beauty As It Is”, promotes inclusivity and diversity in the beauty industry with the motto, “Beauty is a choice”, a topic even more relevant in the hyper-digital age. Currently, Carlota is invested in an entrepreneurial venture exploring the benefit of AI and IoT to optimize self-care. Additionally, she consults luxury brands and institutions on desirable futures, innovation, and transformation, and lectures at esteemed executive programs offered by IE and Luxonomy. Rodben’s ambition is to usher in a new era of luxury, leveraging cutting-edge technology, immersive experiences, and the power of emotion. You can order Carlota's book "Beyond Luxury" on Amazon. Tech Powered Luxury Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Farmhouse Fresh. #techpoweredluxury Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.