We welcome entrepreneur, investor, consultant, and board member Irina Kapetanakis to the show! Irina possesses a unique skill set having helped Fortune 500 businesses drive top-line sales and revenue growth. She has a keen understanding of not only the sales process but what is needed to create an environment that fosters high growth by optimizing processes to achieve results. As a fan of Simon Sinek, she believes that to be a great leader, one needs to continuously define the “why” for every single individual on the team. When people work with purpose, they feel empowered, motivated, and satisfied.
Irina most recently invested in a boutique franchise fitness brand, Rumble, and is expanding their popular NYC based experience into the New Jersey area with 3 studios. The Hoboken NJ studio is opening February 2023.
As an angel investor, mentor and advisor that inspires entrepreneurs, Irina launched corben & lane, a consulting business to help fashion companies scale and diversify their production needs. She also is responsible for representing many international brands looking to enter the US market. She and her team create business value by identifying and executing upon market opportunities.
While Vice President of Marketing at Suuchi Inc, a venture backed, supply chain management software company, she redesigned the marketing organization to improve lead generation efforts by 360% resulting in 90% of the company’s pipeline. In addition to laying the groundwork to create a sales engine, she rebranded the company from a manufacturing business to position it as a tech driven SaaS platform working with enterprise fashion brands worldwide. Within six months the team was exceeding its goals. She also hosted the company’s widely viewed podcast focusing on timely supply chain issues.
Prior to joining Suuchi, Irina was a Director, National Accounts at Legg Mason Global Asset Management. She was promoted several times while at the company before being appointed to the national sales role in which she managed the relationships with the companies two biggest distribution partners — Morgan Stanley and UBS. She expanded the relationship with UBS from $25 million a year in 2006 to $2 billion in under 3 years.
Irina is an investor in several companies including Suuchi Inc. in which she is an angel investor. In 2020, she invested in KLEOS Mastiha Spirit, a woman-owned, luxury spirit brand and sits on their Board of Advisors. She also invested in Mammogen, a biotech company that seeks to radically improve the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. She continues to seek investments in women-led, female-focused companies with strong and passionate leadership that are disrupting the status quo.
She is a board member at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s School of International Trade and Marketing and President of the Hellenic Professional Women Organization. She is mother to her 9 year old son, Lucio, who is her wingman in all her ventures.