THE INSIDER: 8 MASTER INVENTORS
AMBER VENZ BOX
MASTER MINDS MORE NORTH TEXAS IDEA GENERATORS
CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, REWARDSTYLE Amber Venz Box was running a high-traffic fashion blog at age 23. It inspired a groundbreaking revelation: the creation of a content management system that allows fashion bloggers to monetize their work by driving followers to brands and retailers. RewardStyle’s LIKEtoKNOW.it app enables millions to easily shop influencers’ wares. It has generated $210 million in retail sales and @LIKEtoKNOW.it has more than 2 million Instagram followers. FEAT Professionally, it would be starting rewardStyle at such a young age and being able to watch it grow and evolve. Baxter and I have worked around the clock for more than six years building the business, and what started as a project in our tiny apartment is now a large, multinational business with more than 240 team members in offices around the world. Personally, it would be my marriage and two children.
PETE LERMA Now the principal at Richards/Lerma, Pete Lerma is one of the most innovative digital marketers today. His newest venture focuses entirely on marketing to Hispanics with brands such as The Home Depot and Ram Trucks.
CLYDE VALENTIN Valentin is the founder and director of Ignite Arts Dallas at the Meadows School at Southern Methodist University. The initiative unites arts and community engagement by encouraging art that explores racial and cultural themes in Dallas and the nation. The New York City native previously worked as the executive director of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, now known as the Hi-ARTS.
LESSON Work urgently, be a friend, learn to delegate.
STEVE GUENGERICH He’s been an entrepreneur, investor, and mentor in Austin, but these days he’s the executive director of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) at the University of Texas at Dallas. The goal of the IIE is to encourage the next generation of startups at UTD.
HAL BRIERLEY The CEO of The Brierley Group knows how to generate loyalty for businesses. In his decades of experience, he’s built reward programs for airlines, hotels, retailers, and others.
52
DA L L A S INN OVAT E S
|
2018
ONE YOU WATCH My husband and co-founder, Baxter Box. SECRET WEAPON Having a co-founder and counterpart that fulfills the other half of the business equation for me. Baxter never thought he would be in the fashion world and I can barely turn a printer on, so we are yin and yang when it comes to our skills. He oversees the technical side of the business while I oversee the marketing side. We sit next to each other in meetings and really balance each other’s ideas.
TECH TO TALK ABOUT We now use an app to seamlessly order a car, order food, order a manicure, and so it is no surprise that we also want to order fashion at the time of inspiration. The LIKEtoKNOW. it app solves the problem of allowing consumers to shop inspiration in closed mobile social, and the numbers tell us it is working and is the future. LIKEtoKNOW.it is growing at twice the rate of the blog, when you look at retail sales drive, and by the end of next year, LIKEtoKNOW.it will provide the majority of retail sales through the rewardStyle channel. LIKEtoKNOW.it is the future.