Fashion Offices With WWW: Aliza Licht (Kunst)

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SVP Global Communications, Donna Karan International. New York While Twitter-aholics we may be, we had many a field day tracking the inside antics of DKNY PR Girl, an anonymous Twitter handle that, well, showcases the realities of a powerhouse working in the world of public relations. Fast-forward a few months, and over 370,000 Twitter followers later, and the once private girl behind the computer screen came forward and revealed herself…as Aliza Licht. Together with Who What Wear, we bring you inside the office of Ms. Licht, the SVP of Global Communications for Donna Karan International. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Neurobiology & Physiology, switched gears into the world of editorial and landed as an accessories intern for Harper’s Bazaar. From there, she jumped mastheads, spent two years at Marie Claire, and then decided to try her hand at PR - joining Donna Karan International in 1998….and has stayed ever since. A girlie girl at the core, she rocks red frocks like no other (she calls it a ‘power color’), stocks her desk with nail polish in every shade of Debra Messing’s signature tone under the sun, and even accessories with a Moshi Moshi headset – CHIC!! Even in our digital age (she runs DKNY’s social media after all), she still knows the importance of a hand written note. “I keep a wall of thank you notes from various notables. I am a big stationary girl so I enjoy seeing what they choose to represent them - paper quality and font-wise” she states. “My favorite note is from Renée Zellweger, she actually just ripped out a page from her Filofax (remember those?!) and wrote right on there. After 14 years at Donna Karan it’s always nice to look back”. We couldn’t agree more.

Digital Inspiration
•Elle Decor•Architectural Digest•Donna Karan•DKNY•@DKNY

“I CAME out on YouTube,” said Aliza Licht, who until recently was known to her legion of Twitter fans only as DKNY PR girl. “Of course, where else would you come out?”

To her nearly 380,000 followers, DKNY PR girl seemed to exemplify the fun-loving, fast-paced life of a fashion public relations gal living in New York City. Hers was a sassy diary written from inside the fashion bubble: “Back at the ranch (office) waiting for CelebX to arrive for her fitting. Only issue is she’s still asleep. Oh @nyfw...the drama never ends,” she wrote last Saturday. Or “It’s so strange to go from runway show craziness to vacuuming in pajamas. What a day,” she wrote a day later.

But last October, Ms. Licht decided it was time to pull back the veil and, surprise, it turns out that she is in fact a DKNY publicist. Or more precisely, the senior vice president for global communications at Donna Karan International.

Seated at the Four Seasons lobby the other day (her pick for the roaring fireplace), Ms. Licht pondered her next steps. “I’ve never thought of myself as a public person,” she said.

Dressed in head-to-toe black with an immaculate blowout and red matte lips, she had the shellac polish of a flinty fashion boss and a chit-chatty way of charm. “What I’ve done, it’s been for the company. Now that I’m out there, I would love to mentor more young people. I think I was a teacher in a past life.”

She is already a role model. At the recent Fashion 2.0 Awards, which honors online fashion initiatives, Ms. Licht was the night’s big winner, with awards for Best Twitter and Best Blog by a Fashion Brand. “Aliza was one of the first people to understand the potential of Twitter for a fashion house,” said Yuli Ziv, founder of Style Coalition, a blogger network that was host of the awards.

Unlike the new breed of baby-faced social media editors, Ms. Licht took a more circuitous path to Twitter stardom. Ms. Licht, a 37-year-old mother of two, grew up in the Five Towns area of Long Island, with dreams of becoming a plastic surgeon. It took a summer internship at a hospital to relieve her of that notion. “I can’t wear scrubs every day,” she said, throwing her head back and laughing. “I love fashion too much.”

After college, she trained her sights on fashion magazines, and got an editorial internship at Harper’s Bazaar, then jumped to Marie Claire, where she specialized in accessories for two years. With few editor positions opening up, even before the dawn of social media, Ms. Licht made the leap to public relations when a job opened up at Donna Karan. She has been with the company since 1998.

Much of her job consists of what she calls “classic P.R.” She cranks the news release machine, arranges fashion show seating and handles celebrity dressing. Then, in 2009, she added social media to her portfolio.

“It was like the wild wild West when we first started,” she said. “Before, the P.R. strategies were so controlled. Now everything you’ve done before is out the window, because whoever is tweeting, whether you like it or not, is speaking on behalf of the company. Good or bad or different.”

In an unusually trusting move, the company gave her free rein. “I kept hearing how some companies had interns doing it, and I can’t imagine somebody going out on a Saturday night with a branded Twitter handle and just going crazy on it,” she said.

Her online voice comes across as girlie and intimate (morning routine, weekend mani-pedis and “Gossip Girl” critiques) but knowledgeable. She’ll discuss inner workings under the hashtag #PR101, as in “Attention to detail is everything. The wrong colored binder clip can destroy your presentation.”

And before each runway season, she’ll explain seating charts and divulge ridiculous requests for tickets.

It’s a style that has since been imitated by other fashion Twitter accounts like OscarPRgirl and Bergdorfs. “This year, other brands have stepped up their games by investing more human resources into social media,” Ms. Ziv said.

Twitter has also introduced Ms. Licht to like-minded friends in the industry (other folks “who get it,” she says), including Mickey Boardman of Paper magazine, Ariel Foxman of InStyle and the socialite Marjorie Gubelmann. They get together for dinners every so often.

“We met via Twitter,” Ms. Licht said, who likens it to a book reading club. “I knew some of the editors through my job, but would you speak to them everyday? Maybe not unless you’re working on a story.”

“Twitter breaks down the walls of the normal infrastructure,” she added. “Anyone can speak to anyone, and you’re not butting into a conversation.”

That online party came to life during the televised “People’s Choice Awards” last month. Ensconced in her Upper East Side apartment — sparkling clean with silver and white décor — she pulled out a trusty old Thinkpad and opened up two desktop windows: one to TweetDeck (a Twitter interface), the other to the live stream on PeoplesChoice.com.

She bantered back and forth with fuggirls, a Twitter handle known for hilarious red carpet commentary. Then she sent a message to courtjustice, a longtime Twitter friend who has a knack for identifying Donna Karan attire on celebrities. All the while, she kept an eye on any Twitter mentions of @dkny.

“The friends you make on Twitter are real relationships,” Ms. Licht said, adding that she hired her assistant and an intern through it. “I still remember when I had 230 followers. There are some followers from those numbers that I still speak to on a regular basis. It’s very personal. It’s become part of my stream of consciousness.”

Explain your job in one sentence please:
Global communications strategy & execution for Donna Karan New York, DKNY and DKNY Jeans brands—from editorial coverage and celebrity dressing to runway show production and Social Media.

What is a typical workday like for you?
I start off ahead of the game. I always check email before bed and in the morning before I get in. Then somehow it all goes downhill from there. Between meetings, lunches (when I’m lucky) and other appointments, keeping up with the incessant attack of emails is a non-stop challenge. Add Twitter & Tumblr to that and I swear my eyes should be falling out of my head any day now. There’s rarely a night that I don’t have to play catch up at home at night. But a PR person’s worst nightmare is not knowing.

What is your go-to work outfit?
As a Donna Karan girl for the past 14 years I generally wear black. Mostly dresses and skirts with little tops. I’m rarely ever in pants. I don’t know why, but I don’t find them very inspiring and I need fashion to inspire me daily or I probably won’t get to work.

How did you get this job? Did you always know you wanted it?
In 1996 (wow that sounds ancient), I was an assistant accessories editor at Marie Claire. I had been there for two years and had outgrown my position by a long shot. At that time in the magazine industry, the accessories editors at the top magazines had each been there for a decade. Literally. So I didn’t see a way to move up and I didn’t want to work at a magazine I didn’t believe in creatively. As an editor, I spoke to PR people all day long, calling in accessories for our photo shoots. Since I worked on the flip side I had a clear understanding of what a good PR person did. The bad ones also stood out glaringly. Luckily for me, a PR coordinator position opened up at DKNY and one of my editor friends recommended me for the job. I didn’t necessarily want to go into PR, but it seemed like the right decision at the time. Life is full of sliding doors.

What’s the best part of your job? The worst?
I have always loved the tangible nature of PR. You open a magazine and see your work, you see a celebrity on the carpet wearing your brand. It’s all right there in front of your eyes. I love the objectivity of it, you were either successful or you weren’t. In the digital age, PR is instantly gratifying. Social Media allows PR people to make their own news. It’s pretty amazing how things have changed. Of course the worst part is when the press gets something wrong. Journalists need to fact check and I think for some, there’s this notion that because it’s so easy to fix an incorrect statement online, fact checking is not really necessary. The viral nature of information gone wrong is frightening.

How important is having a fashionable/chic work area?
I’ve always said jokingly that I don’t trust people who have really perfect work areas. Like they’re not “really” working. I’m so crazed during the day that I never care what my desk looks like. It’s a mess. Papers everywhere. But I have it all organized in my head. Conversely, I am obsessed with my apartment being meticulous. Go figure.

Do you email or use the phone more?
Email. Back in the day I was an obsessive voicemail checker. Now I pretty much forget it exists.

What surprises you the most about your career?
Well for starters, I was pre-med and graduated with a BS in Neurobiology &
Physiology. So to end up where I am is hilarious. That said, fashion is in my blood. My grandmother made all of my mother’s clothes growing up and she bought me my first sewing machine at age 3. Back then, I was very good at making outfits for Barbie.

What changes do you make to your look if you have to go to dinner or drinks immediately after work?
None. My look is night worthy all day long. A ‘dress to impress’ mantra gets me through the day.

What items do you think every working girl should own (clothing and accessories)?
1. A killer pair of black pumps
2. A coat that screams your style without ever having to see what’s underneath.
3. A statement handbag (not one you wear everyday, but one you wear when you want to knock ‘em dead).
4. A perfectly cut blazer to throw on with jeans or over little dresses.
5. “Go-to” black pants that never let you down.
6. The perfect, ‘always makes you feel polished’ little dress in whatever color that floats your boat.

Do you use a Mac or a PC? (or Blackberry or iPhone?)
PC, but I’m getting a Mac! (Hear that Donna Karan IT dept?). I am both a BlackBerry and an iPhone user. They are brother and sister to me and I can’t live without them.

What do you listen to when you’re working?
I can’t work and listen to music. I’m not that talented. The girls in the office love music and I’m always telling them to lower the volume.

What are you wearing today?
A black DKNY cape-dress tunic over black leather pants and high heel ankle boots.

What do you try to teach your interns/assistants?
Make an impression. Go above and beyond the job description. Be resourceful, dependable, motivated and collaborative.

Have you fulfilled your career goal or do you still have more to achieve?
I’m funny that way, I never really set long-term goals. I believe in evolution, not revolution. I’ll forever be excited to see what’s behind door #3, but I take it one day at a time. It’s too daunting to think out too far.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to emulate your career path?
1. Never think anything is above you.
2. “No” should not be a word in your professional dictionary.
3. Be accessible, it will make you indispensable.
4. Strive to make sure your ideas are nowhere near the box
5. There is no “i” in team, but there sure is one in “Chic”.
And lastly,
6. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

http://thecoveteur.com/Aliza_Licht

http://dknyprgirl.tumblr.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/aliza-licht/12/570/85a
https://twitter.com/#!/alizalicht
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga8P6FnmUd0