If you are an avid online shopper you may have heard of Stylestalker, The Jet Set Diaries or Majorelle on trendy sites such as Revolve. The creative mastermind behind all of these brands is Rachel Zeilic. But what you may not have known is that the now VP of Influencer and Talent Relations at Clique started off as a law school graduate with no fashion knowledge.
Zeilic’s love for fashion was sparked on her summer holidays in Europe during college. The Sydney native became enamored with high street fashion such as Zara’s, Mango and Topshop, brands that were not available in Australia.
Zeilic ditched her law career to fill the high street fashion void in Australia. “I hated law - it just wasn’t me. So I decided to start my own fashion line even though I had no idea what I was doing,” she explains. “All I really knew is I wanted to create a brand of trendy, yet affordable pieces for young women like me.“
Although Stylestalker landed in 150 Australian stores in its first season, Zeilic wanted to take a more organic guerilla marketing approach to grow her brand. “It was around 2007 when blogging was in the very beginning stages. It was a very tight knit community with only a handful of successful bloggers so it just made logical sense for me to approach these bloggers with clothes from Stylestalker in return for a write up,” recalls Zeilic. “No one was doing this at the time. The word “influencer” didn’t exist and brands never gifted.”
Zeilic credits the success of Stylestalker to what we would call today influencer marketing. “I was funding Stylestalker with money I saved from working at a hardware store. I had zero marketing dollars. This was my only option,” she explains. “I made sure to nurture relationships with these bloggers and to essentially join their community by attending the fashion weeks and all parties that came with it.”
Four years into Stylestalker, Zeilic decided to move to Los Angeles to focus on their second largest marketing and growing the influencer marketing. Soon after, Zeilic and her business partner received funding and were able to launch their second brand, The Jetset Diaries. By 2015 Stylestalker and The Jetset Diaries were top sellers on Revolve. While the brands were successfully growing, a difference in opinions with investors and partners caused Zeilic to part ways with her first business.
“I ended up joining the team at Revolve to help grow their in house brands while I created my own brand, Majorelle,” Zeilic says. “I ended up tapping back into influencer marketing for Revolve because I had all these great relationships with influencers. We launched #revolvearoundtheworld, which were influencer trips where the influencers would create content with our clothes. It became a brilliant marketing tool for us.”
It is safe to say Zeilic has been a pioneer in the fostering of influencers and the development of influencer marketing. So when Clique needed to create their own stand alone influencer marketing agency they turned to Zeilic for her expertise. “I had never been in a large corporate environment or had a proper office job so I was hesitant to leave my amazing team at Revolve and Majorelle, but I was ready for a new challenge,” she explains.
The challenge wasn’t only joining a corporate environment, but creating a culture at Clique that integrated influencer marketing into all of their verticals. Zeilic is now successfully running the Influencer Marketing Agency at Clique while still standing as the Creative Director at Majorelle.
Zeilic shared more on her journey in influencer marketing and creating her own lane at Clique:
Yola Robert: You are most known for being the mastermind behind Majorelle and now are leading influencer relations at Clique. What was 21-year-old Rachel doing? Now knowing what you know, what advice would you give 21-year-old self?
Rachel Zeilic: So, at 21-years-old I had just started StyleStalker. I would give myself a few pieces of advice. Firstly, I would advise myself to invest 95% of my time into networking and fostering business relationships. I am a good designer, but the number one power that I have are my contacts. My contacts are what have gotten me to where I am. Secondly, I would advise to protect yourself legally in very beginning of start of a business.Thirdly, I would advise to jump on new trends when you see it. I wish I would have focused Stylestalker as an online brand rather than a wholesale brand. Finally, I would advise my 21-year-old self to help herself before she can help others.
Robert: How did Revolve prepare you for your role now at Clique?
Zeilic: The influencer space comes naturally to me, but what helped prepare for Clique at Revolve was being in a corporate environment that was forward thinking.
Robert: What has been the most rewarding part of growing your own “lane” at Clique?
Zeilic: I was able to come to the team with a strong understanding of the industry from the influencer lens, so combining that with the existing Clique team that was so experienced in understanding what brands were looking has created a best in class influencer agency within the corporate Clique umbrella.
Robert: At what instance did you know influencer marketing was going to essentially replace traditional advertising?
Zeilic: It was maybe five years ago when I saw the circulation and ad price of Vogue at $500,000. I realized many of these influencers had a bigger circulation than Vogue with a fraction of their ad price. With influencers you are able to speak to your audience more authentically versus a traditional ad in an outlet such as Vogue.
Robert: What trends do you predict for Influencer Marketing in the next few years-especially with big brands and corporations?
Zeilic: I think that the majority of all new brands that launch whether it be a clothing line, skin care, makeup or television series will be spring from influencers. Bigger brands and corporations will then acquire or invest in these influencer brands into their portfolios which is already happening at a micro level.
Robert: What is one failure you have had in your life that you were able to turn into a success?
Zeilic: My first business was ultimately a failure by the time I left, because although it was making money, the internal politics made it an awful place to be. However, it turned into a success because Stylestalker and The Jetset Diaries were two of Revolves best-selling lines at the time which gave me the opportunity to then create Majorelle and lead influencer marketing at Revolve. Without those experiences I would not have the knowledge or expertise at my new role at Clique.
Robert: What strategies do you use when you are faced with adversity?
Zeilic: My law degree helped me to realize that there is no one truth. Everyone has their own reality, perspective and motives so I always try to put myself in other people’s shoes. Once I can understand someone’s thinking process I am able to meet them in the middle to overcome the adversity.
Robert: For the entrepreneurial minded women out there, how would you suggest they create their own lane within the corporations they work for?
Zeilic: Firstly, in any job no matter what your position is do the work you were hired to do. Try to find the maximum efficiency of getting your core work done first then spend time on working on your ideas in a very entrepreneurial way. Secondly, just start executing on your idea. Upper management doesn’t want to delegate or babysit your new “idea.” If you come to them with the work done and all they have to do is give their approval, creating your lane will be much more feasible.
