Born in New York, Louise Vongerichten Ulukaya would spend her childhood days growing up in both New York and the south of France where she studied and practiced ballet. In 2005, Louise went to Washington DC to study finance at American University. Upon completing her degree, she returned to France to pursue her MBA at ESSEC Business School in Paris. After living in Dubai and Hong Kong, Louise returned to New York City. Since her return, New York has been graced with two of her restaurants under the Chefs Club name. In 2016 Louise decided to establish the Food Dreams Foundation with her family and to pursue her philanthropic endeavor by helping students access education and jobs within the culinary industry. Since then, more than 60 students from every part of the world have been participating in the program.
After the birth of her first son in 2019, Louise decided to create a children's clothing brand that cares for the environment, respects the people making it, and looks and feels good while being accessible for all. She set out to design clothes that would care for the planet and for the environment while also not compromising on the comfort, look, and feel of the clothes. After 2 years of research to perfect the best technologies and blends of materials to make earth-friendly clothes for kids, Mon Coeur was born.
CEO Story: "I decided to start the journey by really aligning all those values altogether. And it took really, About three years of R and D of trial, putting all the inspiration together of really finding my voice in regards to the closing brand and how I would tell also the story not only on the design but also on the branding on the website, on all the different assets of the brand and retell the story through the color palette, the logo, all of that fun stuff. And so about a year and a half ago, I launched Moncoeur both on direct-to-consumer as well as wholesale. And it's been really a beautiful journey. A year and a half later, we are in about 60 stores worldwide."
Business Service: "We wanted to develop really a brand that was accessible to really a large community of moms and dads out there and not only in the US, but also in the international market. And the way I developed it on the business level was really to make it as accessible as possible in regard to price point."
Secret Sauce: "We are the only.100% truly sustainable kids' brand out there. Every piece of clothing, every piece of the clothes that we're making is made 100% from upcycle and recycle material. So our blends are made of dead stock cotton. So it's pre-consumer cotton that normally goes to landfill. That's there's so much waste in the fashion industry."
CEO Hack: "It's hard for me to understand what I could do better. What, the team could do better. So I implemented that and everybody's doing it. Even just little walks in the city where, I take one on one. my director of operation, my manager of design. And we just take walks and we go grab a coffee."
CEO Nugget: "Being stubborn with your idea is very important, I think. Because you get a lot of, opinions and I did myself also in both my businesses, whether it was when I had restaurants or even when I started Moncure people, challenge your ideas to doubt your ideas. And it's good also because it makes you rethink it. It makes you even more eager to do it."
CEO Defined: "The CEO is really the definition of leadership. Absolutely. I think it's it's really regrouping everybody together. And working towards that goal. And for us, Moncler is making the best closing option for kids and it's reminding people of why we do that and how we can do it better."
Website: Louise Ulukaya
Instagram: shopmoncoeur
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