Women of Swarovski - Kisha Reid

Always passionate about the fashion industry, Kisha is now leading the Trade Marketing team in the USA. Working magic within Swarovski for almost 20 years, she thrives at creating new business opportunities for the company, building strong and powerful teams along the way, making her the strong leader she is today. This doesn’t come without challenges. Discover more.

Your career, in a few lines

?Since as far back as I can remember, I've always aspired to pursue a career in the fashion industry. It started as a child watching the matriarchs in my family dazzle in their finest whenever they stepped out the door. Both the women and men in my family had extraordinary taste and style that sparked my interest.

When it came to education, I remained in Virginia to attend the HBCU, Hampton University. My next stop was back home to NYC. I enrolled at FIT to learn everything I could about the industry, even taking sewing classes. I was lucky enough to land a job working in the Saks 5th Ave. buying office. From there, I continued to explore the world of fashion through various roles with many notable fashion companies, further sharpening my retail and luxury acumen.

In the early 2000s, I landed a job at Swarovski as an Associate Marketing Manager. Swarovski was my initial foray into the B2B world. I specialized in branding, events and created an agency style position to service our B2B partners with consumer activations and experiences to support the sell-in/sell-thru of Swarovski crystal components. Along the journey, I started building a team, which allowed me to develop and sharpen my skills as a people leader. Within that time, the business grew so much that my team went from two direct reports to a team of eleven within four years. Currently, I head B2B Trade Marketing in NYC, with an incredible team of two—we are a small but mighty team making magic happen each day!

One challenge you had to overcome?

With every great career journey, there are always new challenges met. A challenge that I think is important to highlight in this forum that I know many women, particularly women of color, struggle with as they rise in their careers is the pursuit of owning one's self-confidence and assertiveness. Holding both without moment of doubt that others perceive you as overly domineering or arrogant, as I've learned from a variety of female leaders, including myself, is a common challenge many of us collectively face throughout our career journey.

I've tried to balance my ambitious and driven side throughout my professional career while remaining approachable, calm, and understanding even as I've grown into leadership roles. However, when women advance in leadership roles, they are typically put in a box and labeled as either self-confident and bullish or pleasant and easy-going. As a female leader of color, the "labeling" is further compounded by historical racial stereotyping that unfortunately still exists today. These stereotypes have made it challenging for female leaders, particularly those of color, to be viewed as both assertive and likable leaders simultaneously. The challenge comes when I must be bold or decisive, which causes people to feel as though something is wrong, or that I must be upset, angry, or hostile. Which has sometimes led me to feelings of self-questioning like "Did I raise my voice too much?", "Was I overly aggressive?" Very rarely is my answer to those questions an emphatic yes.

An effective strategy I've learned to employ is to pause and allow myself a moment to self-regulate, process what I've heard to understand better and move the conversation effectively in a new direction when necessary. The strategy only takes a few seconds, but this small ritual allows me a moment of clarity and the ability to respond in a self-assured yet respectful manner. That strategy and other small self-development practices have helped empower me to be more confident in showing up as a genuine and strong leader who remains true to herself each day.

One advice you would like to share with us?

Never forget what you’ve learned throughout your career journey; both the peaks and the valleys in one's career are typically filled with great learning moments. I firmly believe it's critical as a leader to remain open to continue learning, from the most junior team members to the leaders that sit above or beside you. When you become a leader, having the functional knowledge of your team and the confidence in yourself to empower, lead, and allow yourself and your team to make and learn from mistakes without fear is vital in sustaining a motivated and successful team. And lastly, but most importantly, take an invested interest in who your team members are, both as individuals and as integral and valued members of the team.?