Coping with Luxury
PREFACE
This is my second publication on LinkedIn and my first story for 2021! After much thought, I had decided to share my experiences of 2020 in the form of an article. The idea was born as a "regular post" but quickly discarded when I realized the maximum character count was capped at 1,300. The decision to publicize such a lengthy essay didn't come easy after I had spent the majority of 2020 with deactivated social media accounts (namely Facebook and Instagram). The reason, why I had suspended my accounts is partly the topic of this column "Coping with Luxury". Also, after constructive feedback from ex-colleagues, business partners, friends and individuals in similar situations, I decided that sharing my experiences was not only therapeutic for myself but also helpful for persons with akin life circumstances. A main take-away, on which I will try to improve, is not to address too many topics in one single post. I will share some of my experiences as break-out stories for more targeted audiences and related closely to the professional work field.
The science of Well-Being
"The Science of Well-Being" is the name of an online course, developed by Yale Universityon Coursera, which had been made publicly available during the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Constantly comparing our own life circumstanceswith other people makes us generally and relatively more unhappy and unsatisfied as we constantly chase for the next best thing: a better lifestyle, vacationing in Mykonos during summer, snowboarding in Aspen during winter, the latest Bentley GTC and that brand-new Rolex Daytona with the black ceramic bezel...
I was 100% guiltyof not only consuming & scrolling on social media while comparing my (not so bad) life to other people's circumstances, even worse: I actively participated and contributed to this "rat race". I showcased my oh-so-glamorous lifestyle on my social media with the best Clarendon, Juno or Gingham filters. So I put an end to it and temporarily quit social media. This is becoming a trend that luxury brands like Bottega Veneta are picking up on. Bottega Veneta has deleted all its US social media accounts in a quest for more exclusivity and authenticity. While my mood started to improve, I also felt cut-off, left out and isolated from the world (maybe not such a great idea during the lockdowns and isolation period). I will re-evaluate of how to use and consume social media - what to share and with whom to share...
Miami Lifestyle & Wealthy Friends
Our environment has a great influence of who we are and what we crave to be and strive to possess. In my case, I lived in glitzy Miami for a decade, where life was "not real". It was always sunny, I lived (and worked) where the wealthiest people came to vacation and owned penthouses on the 50th floor of ultra luxurious high-rise condominiums. While the 1% came to spend their money, I was working, trying to make a living and emulate that lifestyle since this was my representation of happiness. Moreover, this was what I repeatedly was exposed to in my daily life and also professionally.
I ended up buying a blue 8-cylinder BMW 650i Convertible (I had always been a gear-head) and a rose-gold BVLGARI Octo watch (with the help of my generous employee discount - nonetheless, I still stretched my budget).
To those who know the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki: I grew up with the latter. No disrespect, but I had simply not learnt how to smartly spend, less invest, my assets. I like to believe that I have evolved on that aspect!
I live WITH luxury, not IN luxury
Some of my international jet-set friends spent the winters at their condos in Miami, arrived on their personal Global Express (private jet) at the executive airportin Opa Locka and picked me up after work in a white Rolls Royce Ghostoutside the office on Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami. I always rushed out, in order not to be seen being picked up so extravagantly (after all, I still had to negotiate that yearly salary increase during my performance reviews and didn't want to give the impression that I didn't deserve my hard-earned salary). The above image depicts luxury cars parked up front my friends' luxury condo Acqualina in Sunny Isles.
This came to be a regular weekday routine: my friends would fly in from some part of the world and pick me up to splurge on $600-dinners on a regular Wednesday at Chotto Matte, Novikov or one of the other trendy eateries on South Beach or in Bal Harbour!
After that dinner, I would return to my 1-BR apartment on the 20th floor in Edgewater, for which I spent 50% of my monthly paycheck (I was not stretching my budget, Miami real estate is out-pricing locals only topped by NY or SF Real Estate prices). On Sundays we would have Dom Perignon champagne brunches at classy places like the Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne or at trendy spots such as Seaspice or Kiki on the River followed by the obligatory pool party on a rooftop (pick any, Miami has hundreds of those).
BVLGARI and Mexico's Upper Echelon
As one of my dear co-workers always said: "I live WITH luxury, not IN luxury". Working for one of the most iconic Italian luxury brands universally known, means marketing and commercializing the most beautiful luxury consumer goods (in my case jewelry and watches) to some of the most extraordinarily HNWI (high net-worth individuals) in the world.
This is not an easy feat and goes beyond the gimmicky popular media representation of which fork to use at a black-tie gala dinner. My profession in luxury marketing granted me glimpses into the secret lifes of the rich and famous I had only known from television at that point. I loved it! Picture above shows a private showing of high-end jewelry and watches for a selected clientele at a non-disclosed private showroom in Mexico City.
Once a year in March, I would travel to Basel, Switzerland for "Basel World" - the biggest industry trade show for jewelry and watches. There, I met up with my international business partners to present the brand's annual novelties, product launches and explain the marketing strategy I had worked on with my team, on how I would commercially support these launches (e.g. digital & print campaigns, product launch events at the stores in their respective countries, available ATL and BTL assets I had worked on with the Trade Marketing Department in Rome).
Picture below shows me with Shu Qui θζ· during the kick-off for Basel World in Switzerland in 2018. Shu Qui is a Taiwanese actress and BVLGARI's brand ambassador in Asia, face of all media campaigns
My profession let me experience part of a fabulous lifestyle through my annually allotted Travel & Expense budget (T&E). Planning and organizing the biggest industry trade show for Grande Complication Watches in Latin America, known as SIAR (Salon Internacional de Alta Relojeria - the "Mexican version" of Basel World), not only meant flying there in Business Class and working at the St. Regis in Mexico City...
...it also meant living at the St. Regis for two weeks with a dedicated butler (24/7), tasting incredible dinners at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's James Beard-awarded restaurants and socializing while sipping $200 Krug champagne with Mexico's elitesthat ran the country. I learned a lot from some immensely smart and tremendously successful people from all walks of life during these business conversations.
Quick interjection here: I don't want to give the impression that I had a ginormous budget for this, neither was I recklessly wasting company money (this would be against my mission of candidly sharing my experiences through a non-filtered social media lens). I learned to be scrappy and smartof using my miles for upgrades: At that time, I oversaw 30+ countries in Latin America & the Caribbean, which meant spending almost every other week on American Airlines. Flight attendants started recognizing me and remembering my name, while my local friends in Miami started forgetting me.
Friends never knew when I was actually in town if I didn't regularly check-in. Internationally, I was mingling with the upper crust, while I started to unintentionally (!) neglect meaningful real-life friendships - I was simply too tired upon my arrival to keep socializing. Marriott Pointsgranted me upgrades and stays at luxurious properties, that were otherwise out of reach due to tight budget restraints. Don't be mistaken, working for a luxury company taught me to how to cater to extremely demanding HNWIand maintaining the highest level of integrity, while being resourceful and scrappy with my finances and stay within a dedicated A&P (Advertising & Promotions) budget, to get the most bang for my (limited) buck! Image shows me with Eva Longoria at a wedding in Mexico City
I learned how to successfully navigate a variety of different worlds, quickly changing environments, contrasting cultures, relate to clients and business partners from all spheres of society and possessing superpowers of adaptability!
Picture above shows me with BVLGARI brand ambassador and international supermodel Jon Kortajarena during a brand event in Mexico City in 2017. Left to right: Astrid Iglesis Lerroux, CMO of EMWA - strategic business partner in the distribution throughout Mexico, Jon Kortajarena, Philipp Roessler
Latin American Oligarch Business Partners
Latin America has some of the biggest discrepancies between the wealthy elites and the majority of an otherwise impoverished population. As a student, I had lived for one year in San Jose, Costa Rica, sponsored by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) due to my academic, interpersonal and cross-cultural skills. I studied International Affairs at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in San Jose and was able to experience an authentic part of the country, which I would get to know years later through the skewed perspective of luxury. In my function of managing the marketing with business partners in every single South American nation, I got to visit 20+ countries personally.
While I flew on commercial airlines to my destinations in Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, the last mile had always been meticulously organized by my very accommodating and outstandingly hospitable business partners. I cannot highlight enough, how invaluable the experience of being chaperoned around an unfamiliar territory can be. Many of my business partners have grown into dear friends.
Image shows me boarding a re-purposed military airplane in Maracaibo, Venezuela in 2015
Caracas, Venezuela, July 2015: My colleague and I decided to visit our commercial business partners and six points of sale during a five-day trip to Venezuela. Little did we know, that this would be the last authorized business trip by LVMH, due to security concerns, in a growingly unruly nation under the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro - only two years after the passing of Hugo Chavez. Once we arrived at Caracas airport, we were greeted and whisked away by a driver in an SUV that our business partner had sent to escort us to our hotel. We arrived at The Renaissance Hotel in the district of La Castellana, only walking distance from the commercial mall where we would meet our associates later that day. Unaware of the severity of security threats towards naive business travelers, we walked for two blocks (laptop bag in one hand, iPhone in the other).
Only later, would we learn that mere days before, people had been robbed and even killed for mobile gaming devices, a cell phone or just sneakers. Needless to say, from that moment on, our (at times competing) business partners would work closely together in order to not let us out of their sight, taking turns in escorting us around in armored SUVs with armed bodyguards until the end of our stay. On our second or third day in Caracas, one of our distributors picked us up early in the morning at The Renaissance Hotel, to take us to the private airport of Oscar Machado Zuloaga, on top of an artificially flattened mountain on the outskirts of Caracas.
We were going to visit our distribution in Barquisimeto for the day: by private plane! The driver of the SUV was carrying a ubiquitous fanny-pack that didn't quite match his style (later we learned, that he kept his 9mm there for our protection). Less inconspicuous, was our bodyguard, who openly carried his rifle and accompanied us on the airplane. We left the city behind and entered a different world after crossing the security gates. Private jets as far as the eye could see!
So this was where the elite and oligarchy of the country kept their planes in hangars. We came to understand, that gasoline and kerosine in oil-rich Venezuela were cheaper than water. Hence, the maintenance of an airplane was no big deal. Flying was safer than driving and the city was only a 30-minutes flight away (by two-engine propeller plane). We returned the same day.
Take-Away
There are two main aspects I'd like to highlight as my main take-away!
I became more aware of what I consume on social media and how I consume it. I am a marketer at heart and believe that social media can be a great tool for companies and even the consumer. If you realize that social media is starting to affect your perception, emotions and judgement re-analyze and take-inventory of your consumption habits. Maybe try a new diet. A complete hiatus is not necessary and unrealistic for most.
Never forget where you come from and who you work for. While it is important to adapt to your environment, don't confuse yourself with the multi-billionaire client you are catering to in luxury marketing! It is easy to get sucked into this world and adapt an attitude of entitlement. I have seen it happening all around me. Stay humble and true to yourself! While I did enjoy my life with luxury, it was not a life in luxury. I will always cherish the experiences that helped me grow professionally and personally!