FWRD is an online retailer that sells premier luxury designer apparel, jewelry, bags and beauty. It was founded by Hollywood stylist Elyse Walker and is now owned by Revolve Group.
Former Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Kendall Jenner was just named creative director for the brand, which Revolve describes as “a place where she can curate the site’s offering with emerging designers and brands.” She will also be in charge of the site’s overall look and feel. She will be tasked with curating brands sold on the site, creating monthly edits and coming up with marketing ideas and partnerships.
Adrian Aoun
Adrian Aoun is the founder and CEO of Forward, an AI-based healthcare system combining world-class private doctors with new technology to enable proactive, data-driven primary care. Prior to founding Forward, Adrian was the head of Special Projects for the CEO of Google/Alphabet, where he founded one of the Alphabet companies Sidewalk Labs.
In this episode, we talk to Adrian about why he’s fanatical about being problem-focused rather than solution-focused, what he learned leading special projects for Fashion-Forward Founder, and why productizing healthcare can lower costs and boost innovation. Plus, Adrian explains why health insurance is the biggest obstacle in healthcare and what his startup is doing to combat it.
He’s also a prolific angel investor with the likes of WorkRamp, Atrium, and Convoy in his portfolio. Listen in to learn more about what he’s been up to recently, and what you can expect from him in the future!
Dr. Weinberg
Throughout his medical career, Dr. Weinberg has been a proponent of cura personalis (care for the whole person) and brings this mindset to each patient he treats.
He has a strong belief in the importance of social determinants of health, including economic opportunity, affordable housing and reliable transportation, and lifelong learning. He has focused on addressing these important factors at FWRD and Denison University.
He has a deep interest in the civic impacts of higher education and believes mentorship is the defining feature of a transformative education. At Denison, he has worked to focus on residential halls as sites for civic learning and launched the Red Frame Lab for design thinking.
Michael Mente
In 2003, Michael Mente and Mike Karanikolas founded Revolve, an online clothing retailer that led the way in deploying fashion bloggers and influencers to sell duds. They used $50,000 saved up from their former jobs as software engineers to launch the firm, and grew it into an industry giant with a market cap of $1.2 billion.
The company is now a public company that focuses on next-generation fashion for millennial and generation Z shoppers. It offers a curated assortment of iconic and emerging luxury brands with a strong point of view.
He has a net worth of at least $367 million as of 7 December 2020. According to his Form 4 filed with the SEC, he has made 27 trades since 2019, including selling 163,416 units of RVLV stock worth $8,700,268 on 5 April 2022.
Kendall Jenner has been named the new creative director for FWRD, a luxury e-tailer owned by Revolve Group. In her role, she will be responsible for the site’s overall look and feel, sourcing and curating brands sold on FWRD, creating monthly edits of must-have trends and styles, and coming up with marketing ideas, brand partnerships and activations.
Raissa Gerona
Raissa Gerona, the CEO of FWRD, is one of Revolve’s most prominent figures. She’s the head of brand marketing, leading social media activations and strategic partnerships to ensure that the online-only retailer remains at the forefront of contemporary fashion for savvy millennial customers.
When Gerona joined Revolve in 2014, she was already familiar with the company as a designer-buyer. She previously co-founded Lovers + Friends, the first in-house brand to be sold by Revolve, and was responsible for bringing the label to life.
Since then, she’s been able to build the brand, lead experiential marketing campaigns and drive net sales growth with a focus on millennial shoppers. She’s also been an advocate for diversity and inclusion within the company.
The company recently made a major splash at Paris Fashion Week, hosting a week’s worth of events starring its influencer family. Using the designated hashtags #FWRDTRAVELS and #LOOKFWRD, Revolve got their followers in the know about a host of shows, dinners and parties.