ALIOMI: CAROLYN PRIDE

It is no wonder that with 5 New Yorker’s at the helm of its success, fashion-site ALIOMI lives and breathes New York style. Carolyn Pride, ALIOMI’s Director of Operations, manages the development, design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver ALIOMI to the masses. Designed as a “street-couture fashion blog and online boutique that sells vintage, DIY, and resale pieces,” the site was founded a year ago by Carolyn’s high school pal, Naomi Bishop, and her college friend, Allison Sparkhul (“ALI”+”OMI”). The founders sought to incorporate Carolyn into the venture because of her solid background in market research and business development, as well as her enterprising and upbeat attitude. Carolyn is a formidable individual who contributes her wide-breadth of experience to the group; having attended Connecticut College (‘08), she not only played on the Varsity Basketball team, but also majored in Economics and Sociology, and was selected to study Economic Development at Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting. Carolyn has brought her business savvy, sense of humor, and boho-chic style since day 1, and ALIOMI has been on the rise ever since.

ALIOMI is just what every NY fashionite needs--be sure to visit the site to browse through their wonderful selection yourself (and if you're wondering who took this awesome shot, it was Elias Wessel). 

How did you become involved with ALIOMI?

ALIOMI was founded over a year ago as a resale hustle on e-bay. Naomi and Allison asked me to become involved with ALIOMI in order to help further develop the concept. The initial idea had so much potential that I was able to quickly convinced that it would be in our best interest to make ALIOMI our own e-commerce site and lifestyle brand, seperate from e-bay. We then began developing ALIOMI, LLC. I am a business woman after all...why give e-bay a percentage if you don't have to.

Your day-to-day responsibilities:

I am responsible for market research, managing our inventory, cultivating B2B relationships, our quarterly news letter, organizing and analyzing the effectiveness of ALIOMI's operations. We all blog, Facebook, help at the photo shoots, tweet, manage interns, event plan, prospect, etc. 

Your greatest pre-Aliomi accomplishment: 

In college I actually chartered the schools chapter of the NAACP. For this I was awarded a grant for Social Entrepreneurship. 

Three words to describe growing up in NYC:

Super effing crazy. 

Describe your personal style:

My personal style is bohemian chic. I really enjoy tribal patterns, heavy metal jewelry, blacks, greys, whites, and classic lines...DIY “Urban Zen.” 

Basketball jersey or cocktail dress?

Basketball jerseys are actually not that comfortable. Cocktail dress for sure. 

Most essential accessory:

Besides my Blackberry? Pearl earrings. 

Most disturbing fashion faux-pas:

It's a tie between VPL (visible panty line) and high-heels that are so worn-out the heal is diagonal and they lean out to the side. Both are super gross. 

NYC: Fashion capital of the world?

No way. Stockholm is the fashion capital of the world. NYC is simply THE capital of the world. For sure. 

Define “hipster”:

A hipster is a person who tries to participate in and/or emulate underground urban youth culture simply because it is “hip.” A hipster doesn't understand the relevance of the movie Kids and can be heard saying "White Mike...who?". 

What makes you laugh?

Everything. My sense of humor is rather inappropriate. 

Fashion icon that most inspires you:
Grace Jones. 

Greatest pet peeve:

Fakeness. In any capacity. 

Most important quality in a friend:

Ironic. I've had to think about this a lot recently. Acceptance, Non-Judgement, Unconditional Love. 

Your current state of mind:

Over worked and under paid, but loving life. 

Favorite NYC clothing boutique:

ALIOMI NYC, obvi! 

Manhattan vs. Brooklyn:

Brooklyn has great Beer Gardens, but Manhattan is the concrete jungle where dreams are made of...