06 Dec December 6, 2018 – Christmas Show! – Incredible Resilence Monica Horn, The Gift Card Girlfriend Shelly Hunter, Family Far Away Justine Santaniello and Michele Dupre Verizon Xmas Outlook
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Monica Horn – Founder of Prêt-à-Fleur
With her multi-cultural background and fluency in several languages, international business seemed the most sensible course to take in college. During her senior year, Monica was selected for internship at Dresdner Bank, one of the largest banking concerns in Germany. It was there that I discovered that she had a facility for finance, which led her to work for seven years on Wall Street. Eventually, though, Monica realized she wanted to have more hands-on involvement in an actual business, not just working on figures on a spreadsheet. So, she founded her own import company called HGI, which for the following fifteen years grew steadily with bigger and more important clients annually. As they say, all good things come to an end, so did Monica’s trusted partnership of 15 years and when the time was most difficult for her she was blindsided by an unforeseen event. Monica was already married and expecting her second child and it was while she was preoccupied with that pregnancy when her HGI business partner of so many years formed a separate company on his own and diverted her company funds, assets, and clients to his personal accounts. She had not realized how badly he had damaged the company until Monica returned to it and found it in near ruin. The blow came as an emotional and financial shock that nearly destroyed her as well. Monica panicked, had a breakdown and then realized I had no choice but to reinvent herself. With very little options, Monica rallied because even while everything hit rock-bottom, she still had a family to think of and expenses to face. This was how Monica created the new company Prêt-à-Fleur. From the beginning, the idea behind Prêt-à-Fleur was to create the ideal gift and then going beyond that into something truly special. Their first offering is the collection they call Eternal Roses New York real roses that don’t need to be watered or maintained yet continues to be vibrantly fresh for three years! While there are other brands that sell similar roses, they only have gift boxes. Prêt-à-Fleur is singular in having Eternal Roses New York dazzlingly presented in artisanal, carefully crafted ceramic vessels as centerpieces. They quickly realized this key difference and patented their designs. This makes their range serve not only as a memorable gift but as an elegant décor piece or accent as well at home, weddings or any celebration, in restaurants, hotels, offices and public spaces! They can be enjoyed daily, displayed anywhere and admired by all.
Shelly Hunter – The Gift Card Girlfriend
Shelley Hunter, a.k.a. the Gift Card Girlfriend can speak about the hottest trends in gift cards for the holidays this year. From gift card tips and creative ideas to insights into the industry, Shelley Hunter is the one-and-only guide to gift cards. Shelley is a bona fide “influencer” and is often billed as The Consumer Guide to Gift Cards. She has been featured in a variety of national media stories, including Reader’s Digest, Parade, USA Today, CreditCards.com, Associated Press, Huffington Post, Refinery29, and more.
Justine Santaniello – CEO of JustHaves.com
Multimedia lifestyle contributor, Justine Santaniello is the No. 1 authority for providing engaging content and innovative products. She has shared her tips and top product suggestions – otherwise known as her ‘Just Haves’ – regularly on Access Hollywood Live, The Wendy Williams Show, Good Day New York, Fox & Friends, Yahoo!, New York Live, FOX Business, and more. As the founder and creative director of JustHaves.com, Justine has become a go-to media and consumer resource for anything and everything related to style, beauty, gifting, entertaining and beyond. Known for her conversational and engaging commentary, Justine has made over 500 TV appearances on NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, CW, WE, The Hallmark Channel, The Weather Channel, and QVC.
Michele Dupré – Group Vice President at Verizon Enterprise Solutions
Michele Dupre’ is a group vice president at Verizon Enterprise Solutions and is responsible for Enterprise customers in the Retail, Hospitality/Travel & Distribution Vertical as well as customers headquartered in Canada. In this capacity she is responsible for maintaining and growing a base of more than 160 vertical enterprise customers and over 1000 customers in Canada. In her role, Michele is charged with driving sales strategy while focusing on acquiring new customers, increasing profitable revenue growth and maintaining the global customer base. Additionally, Michele leads the development and growth of her enterprise leadership and sales team. Her organization is comprised of sales, sales operations, and support personnel who are driving business solutions including network and managed services, security, mobility, collaboration, professional services and outsourcing. The holiday shopping season is already upon us and the Holiday Retail Index by Verizon Enterprise Solutions offers insights into consumer shopping. The index tracks digital commerce traffic across Verizon’s broadband networks to the top 25 U.S.-based online retailers. Ahead of the first data being released on Monday, November 19, we can offer an interview with Michele Dupre, Group Vice President of Retail, Hospitality & Distribution, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, who can speak on what businesses are doing to attract consumers in a world where e-commerce is the norm.