never met britney spears. i had never met jessica alba, never met fergie. these were people that were in magazines that i admired their fashion. and there s nothing as amazing as seeing your product on that person. when you open up a magazine, you re like, wow, they chose to wear my bag. we get this question all of the time how do you get your product into the hands of celebrities? well, cara found one way to do it by going to personal assistants. for more let s turn to this week s board of directors. gavin kiley is founder of and ceo of gbk productions, a luxury lifestyle gifting company specializing in entertainment marketing. stella grizant is managing director of ladies who launch for new york and new jersey. and rod kurtz is the executive editor of aol small business. great to see you. thank you. i want to start with you, gavin.
welcome to hollywood, baby. let s not even talk about. it let s go. jessica alba, fergie, cameron diaz, britney spears, minnie driver. this is just a partial list of celebrities who have been photographed holding a bag made by los angeles-based small business owner cara kurtz. we took, you know, pieces of our classic and tried to make it a little more mod, you know, 60s. when it comes to publicizing a high-fashion item like a handbag, cara says a picture of a celebrity clutching your clutch in a magazine is far more effective than any paid advertising. every time we got press, it was a huge spike in our sales. not only would we get ten new stores, we would sell you re talking 55 to 100 bags on the internet within 48 hours. cara recalls what happened two days after britney spears took one of her signature bags on a short vacation to europe. we started getting crazy phone calls from london, saying where do i get this bag.