With a career spanning import, distribution and sales for some of the most successful American, British and Italian fashion and sportswear collections including Miss Sixty, Energie, Diesel, Kangol, French Connection and Kenneth Cole, Maria has been developing her passion for bringing the highest quality trends to new markets for more than a decade. Her carefully honed fashion expertise, combined with a keen eye for interiors provided the foundation upon which to build NewWall. Maria is responsible for setting the creative and corporate vision for NewWall and she continues to seek out exclusive, innovative and unexpected products to delight her loyal clientele. She works with multinationals as well as local artists and graphic designers with a view to inspiring.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
I think the thing that stands out to me the most is that I’ve travelled a lot and lived in a diverse array of places. As I was building my career in my 20’s, I uprooted my life and moved to various new cities. On more than one occasion, I’ve had to leave behind a life and a job and then start from scratch in a new place. So far, I’ve lived in Toronto, Montreal, San Diego, and Florence, Italy. When you start over in a new city, you have to take the lead in your life. Having these life experiences have helped me gain confidence in my ability to take risks, but it also allows me to empathize with someone who may be starting out. When you don’t know anybody, you can let the environment overwhelm you, or you can immerse yourself in your new surroundings and become an integral part of it.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at NewWall?
My adult working experience has always been in import/export distribution. This is what inspired me to start distributing European wallpapers in North America. Importing products involves a deep understanding of logistics, an area that I’ve acquired a great deal of knowledge in throughout my previous positions. In addition, I’ve always worked with high-end products which has given me the confidence to align NewWall with reputable brands like Armani Casa and Marimekko and select the appropriate distribution channels in the US and Canada. My former jobs have guided me and helped me build the courage to take these world-class brands and do right by them.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at NewWall?
When I started NewWall, I was a one-woman operation. The business was started from scratch without any outside financing. In the early days, I had to do everything myself and that wasn’t easy. On top of that, perhaps an even bigger challenge for me was that I knew absolutely nothing about the interior design industry. There was a whole world of trade-only showrooms that strictly do business with interior designers that I had no idea about. I taught myself everything by asking questions to both friends and clients. In addition, I learned that when selling wallpaper, samples are a huge part of our business. Though it is a fairly costly process to provide memos to both showrooms and customers we work with, we wouldn’t be able to operate any other way.
For me, it’s been a highlight and a blessing to work with companies that have international brand recognition such as Armani Casa, Marimekko, Timorous Beasties and Tres Tintas Barcelona. These are all names that designers and consumers recognize. For a relatively small company that is only 8 years old, association with such reputable brands firmly establishes NewWall’s presence in the eyes of the consumer. I was also very fortunate to align myself with Donghia, an esteemed brand in the interior design world. Over the past 5 years, I’ve established a very strong relationship with them. Our partnership has also played a strong role in helping to solidify NewWall’s image. Lastly, I’ve been fortunate to grow NewWall’s team of talented individuals – all females I might add! Their collective efforts have made significant contributions to our success. Our ability to inspire each other every single day is an extremely rewarding experience both professionally and personally.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
Based on my own experience, I think it is important to be open to teaching yourself what you don’t know. This requires the patience to be inquisitive, to research and to understand the intricacies of a given field. I was never shy to ask questions. Regardless of how the questions might be perceived by others, the answers will always help you grow. I asked questions because I wanted to learn—the more I know, the more input I could give.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that you can never take things personally. Business is business. The interiors industry is an especially personal one because you are dealing with people’s environments and this can be very specific. While we can guide clients in the direction we think is best for their space, the end decision should be theirs and they should love it. If for some reason it doesn’t go the way I like, I can’t take it personally.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Right now, I have a 7-month-old. I came back to work when he was four weeks old. At this point, I have accepted that I am a sleep-deprived person who runs between work and home non-stop. What has changed for me since having a baby is that wherever I am, the time I devote is strictly dedicated to what I am doing in that moment. I don’t waste any time when I am at work and I am very focused. In the evening, it is the same. I soak up that incredible time with my son. I still work to maintain my friendships but lately, my friends have had to come to me. I have no time to go out!
My husband also helps me maintain the balance. His job takes him all over the world but we always spend quality time together when we are home. He is my sounding board. Sometimes I sit with my husband after the baby goes to sleep and I’ll express that I am overwhelmed. My husband always reminds me that everything we are doing is for our son. This has become an affirmation that I sometimes repeat to myself.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
I find that sometimes people are surprised to find out that I am the business owner of NewWall. This causes me to pause because I realize that people still don’t have high expectations for women in authoritative positions. I suppose this is a larger show of what the world thinks, even if I personally know many women who own their own companies.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Both personally and professionally, my husband has mentored me. Personally, he brings me back to reality when things get crazy. Professionally, he has a different skill set than I do and he helps me plan for the big picture. For instance, we are opening a freestanding showroom in a historic building in Toronto called NewWall House this spring. This is a big undertaking and we came to this decision together. At the end of the day, we both have a mutual respect for each other’s judgement and capabilities.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I admire Coco Chanel for her determination and unapologetic confidence. Her look was simple and elegant and that aesthetic is present in everything I do. She’s known for saying, “Fashion fades, only style remains the same,” and I think those words ring true for interiors too. Kelly Wearstler is a design queen in my eyes. Her bold and unexpected design aesthetic allows her to develop a signature look, recognizable in every project she does. I love that she was able to achieve that and it’s something I aspire to do one day too with NewWall. Last but not least, Dorothy Draper was the founder of one of the first US interior design firms. I love that she took on a male-dominated industry with relentless confidence and urged women to trust their abilities to do things in a stylish and sophisticated way. She once said, “Style has nothing to do with expense.”. This is another quote I love when applied to interior design.
What do you want NewWall to accomplish in the next year?
The biggest focus for us right now is NewWall House. We have distribution set up all over the US and Canada, but this is our first major step in the Canadian market to have a brick-and-mortar store that we have complete control over. NewWall House is unique because it is a 4-floor showroom dedicated entirely to wallpaper. There is nothing like it anywhere. We are also working on a digital experience that will enhance our ability to sell the patterns. We will be able to project wallpapers onto the wall so people can see it on a larger scale. Wallpaper as a product dates back thousands of years, and it has always been sold through books. Though we will still have those traditional sales methods, we are also trying to be forward-thinkers by using technology to improve consumer experience.