Our Second Life podcast (released on Mondays) is growing! On Wednesdays, we’ll be releasing a limited series in partnership with Cartier called Life Lessons, in which Who What Wear co-founder and Chief Content Officer Hillary Kerr will chat with women who’ve had incredible careers within a single field or industry. Subscribe to Second Life on iTunes, and stay tuned. This week, she’s talking to Cartier North America President & CEO Mercedes Abramo.
She's the President & CEO of Cartier North America, she's had the chance to live in France (oh, and Maui, nbd), and she's pretty much living out our collective dream… Meet Mercedes Abramo, dynamic businesswoman and mother of two, who was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to walk us through her career trajectory and offer up some seriously useful advice for navigating the workplace (no matter where you're at in your career).
Speaking of which, when she preaches the virtue of being open to new opportunities rather than playing it safe, know that she's speaking from experience. She's followed that advice for most of her career, and it's served her well, from her early days in management at the Ritz Carlton in Hawaii to getting her MBA in France to running the Tiffany & Co. flagship in New York City to becoming Cartier North America's first female president and CEO. (Whew!)
"Don't be stagnant," she says (and clearly this is a woman who leads by example). "I would give that advice to anyone at any age in their career." You can sometimes do that by changing roles within your company, she allows, but sometimes you've got to be willing to take the step out of your comfort zone and try something new on for size in an entirely new city. (Also, don't rule out going back to school, as Abramo did when she decided to get her MBA in luxury brand management in Paris after starting her career.)
Find out more about Mercedes Abramo and the Cartier Women’s Initiative by listening to the full Life Lessons podcast episode, and don’t forget to subscribe to Second Life on iTunes.
