Why Mytheresa’s North America President believes in the power of risk-taking

Heather Kaminetsky knows the luxury retail market like it’s the back of her hand. Prior to her current role as the president of luxury e-commerce retailer Mytheresa, the retail executive has held positions amongst several luxury shopping giants including Barneys New York and Yoox Net-a-Porter. 

Inside Retail spoke with Kaminetsky to learn more about her journey throughout the high-end retail industry, her enduring love for creating the ultimate consumer experience, and how she keeps her hectic schedule in check.

Inside Retail: How did you get your start within the retail industry?

Heather Kaminetsky: I started my career in college with learning management information systems in computer science. To be honest, I always thought I would be a school teacher but then I fell in love with technology. Then the opportunity presented itself for me to go over to Barneys New York before they even had an e-commerce presence.

I learned about luxury, products and the heritage and the art of fashion at Barneys. There were many people along the way who really educated me into the world of luxury… From their point of view, I would learn from the way they would talk about the [store’s] merchandise, the style outs, and the walks through the store on Monday mornings, like there’s an art to it [luxury retail].

I always felt like I grew up at Barneys and the experience I had then introduced me to the founder of Net-a-Porter after I had left Barneys, where I had been for about seven years and felt like it was time to explore different things. 

I wound up going to Net-a-Porter to run their global marketing division and the role covered everything from public relations to personal shopping to brand and performance marketing all over the globe.

When I decided to leave [Net-a-Porter], I started a company called Riley Home (a luxury bedding & bath lifestyle brand) and then exited the company right before the start of Covid.

IR: How did you fall into your current position with Mytheresa?

HK: This is one of my favourite stories. 

I was talking to my brother on the phone and he asked, ‘What are you going to do now?’

I replied that I didn’t know, I just really wanted to build again. He told me to make a list of the five companies that I wanted to work with, and Mytheresa was at the top of my list. So I found the name of the company’s CEO [Michael Kliger], emailed him, and he wrote back to me. That same Friday we had a call that was supposed to be only 15 minutes long and lasted for hours… Then I knew that this was what I was going to do. 

I believed in the role so strongly because Barneys was no longer in the US retail market and when you looked around, there weren’t a lot of multi-brand retailers in the true luxury space and I felt very strongly that Mytheresa could be huge…It’s funny because in my head we’re just getting started. 

IR: What do you feel have been your proudest accomplishments since first joining the Mytheresa team?

HK: The team.

I am incredibly lucky to have a team of individuals that match my passion. Sometimes it’s a little hard to keep up with me because I will keep running and they have been dedicated, smart and strong. We were a really small team at the beginning, and now we’re really growing!

I’m also extraordinarily proud of our growth over the last few quarters and with our top customers, which has been really strong. It’s one thing to grow revenue, which is amazing, but as you work on different initiatives you always want to be growing with that top customer right and make your lifetime value [with them] strong. 

We’ve done initiatives that have enabled us to identify and grow top customers, which is not super simple, and in a way that has enabled us to engage with consumers and really understand what they’re looking for. 

IR: At the end of the day, what do you think it is about retail that keeps you going versus going to other industries, such as tech?

HK: First of all, I need to be with customers.

I learned about myself that I love the business-to-consumer dynamic. I love understanding and figuring out how to grow a business with products and consumers and how they interact with each other. It’s just thrilling to me. 

I have such a strong passion and love for building teams and watching businesses grow. I would never be able to be in a business where it wasn’t in a growth phase. As part of my [retail] journey, every single business [I’ve worked with] has been a [rapidly] growing business. Even the beginning of my time with Mytheresa, from finding teams to finding offices, that whole world of a startup [environment] almost within a business is my favourite part.

It’s also great [to me] that I can combine my background in sciences with the world of art within retail and use both sides of my brain.

IR: That type of environment doesn’t come without its fair share of a juggling act. So what is your approach to a work-life balance? 

HK: I don’t actually believe that there is work-life balance. 

I have three kids, and I had them much like I had them young in life and I always say that every day there are different priorities. So yes, I keep to a certain routine, like waking up at 5 a.m. to exercise and trying to get at least six hours of sleep a night. But every day, there’s something else that’s a priority so there isn’t always a “balance”, but I always make sure my priorities are in check.

IR: Are there any specific tools you use to help you accomplish that?

HK: I’m a little old-fashioned. I still make to-do lists every single day with a pen and paper, I can’t help it. 

Someone at Brookstone [lifestyle products and gadgets retailer] must have heard that I like to make lists, so I was gifted a whiteboard for my shower, which is where I’ve had some of my best ideas.

I also have a notepad next to my bed because I want to be able to write down thoughts that come to me in the middle of the night.

IR: What is the most unique piece of advice you’ve been given throughout your career so far?

HK: The best piece of advice ever given to me was by my CEO at Barneys and he said to me, ‘Heather, you need to be right 80 per cent of the time. You have a 20 per cent margin of risk, so you must be right 80 per cent of the time.’ 

When you first hear that [type of advice] you start panicking [at the idea of making mistakes], because when you’re young in your career, you’re always afraid to quote-unquote mess up.

But really successful business leaders have to take risks, and when you realise that you’re allowed to have a margin [of error] it leads you to take more chances. 

IR: What is a piece of advice you would give to somebody trying to emulate your career path?

HK: It’s really important to take a minute to listen to yourself and [figure out] what you want to do. 

Oftentimes people will come to me and they will say ‘I want to be in fashion’, but that’s not really a category. That’s a passion, which is great. But what is it that you want to do? 

As yourself, what are your strengths, what are your weaknesses, and then start there. 

I would also say that taking risks is not a bad thing, which I learned early on. I was lucky that someone said that to me and it was a total game changer.

IR: To end things off on a fun note, what was the last thing you purchased from Mytheresa?

HK: [Laughs] I bought a pair of scalloped shoes from Alaïa, which have been sold out forever. On Monday, I got an email that they were back in stock in my size and I’ve never purchased anything so fast.

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