Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

From Boutique Dreams to QVC Star: Dawn Del Russo’s Reinvention Story | Emily Blumenthal & Dawn Del Russo

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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For Dawn Del Russo, building a career in fashion has been a journey of resilience, adaptation, and staying true to herself. With just $10,000 in savings—partly from communion money she’d carefully saved—she launched Bella Dawn boutique without formal training, diving into trade shows and pricing with sheer determination and countless hours of research. A surprise feature on Fox Good Day New York brought her first big sales surge, along with a crash course in scaling without infrastructure.

When broadcast opportunities began competing with her retail business, Dawn made the tough decision to close her beloved boutique—a move that ultimately led to her thriving career as a QVC personality, representing brands like Marc Fisher and Rebecca Minkoff. Through it all, she’s stayed committed to authenticity, embracing her strengths, turning down misaligned opportunities, and building her Live the Glamour brand as a platform rooted in genuine passion for fashion and business.

💡 Key Takeaways:

  • Success often comes through pivots—knowing when to let go of one dream to embrace another.
  • Media moments can transform a business overnight, but preparation matters.
  • Authenticity isn’t just a value—it’s a growth strategy.

🎧 Listen now for lessons in resilience, brand evolution, and building a career grounded in authenticity.

Our Guest:
 Dawn Del Russo is the founder of Live the Glamour and a QVC personality who has represented leading brands while building her own platform. From boutique owner to media personality, she’s navigated every stage of entrepreneurship with adaptability, authenticity, and style.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 

Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner

TikTok: / Handbagdesigner | Twitter: / Handbagdesigner

SPEAKER_01:

The really exciting part was, and at the time it doesn't really happen as much now, but the products flew out the door. And now I had this other challenge of figuring out, you know, you know how they say like something it could be too good? Well, that's what happened. Be careful what you wished for. Exactly. Because now all these orders are coming in.

SPEAKER_03:

Hi, and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast with your host, Emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert, and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers, the creativity, craftsmanship, and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector, or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Welcome, Don Del Russo from Live the Glamour, probably one of my favoriteest people in the whole wide world. Thank you for joining us on Handbag Designer 101 the podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you so much, Emily. I am so excited. I know everyone says that, but I really am.

SPEAKER_03:

I know. No, I'm more excited. And for those of you who are watching this on um YouTube, I strongly suggest you do because Dawn is probably one of the cutest people I've ever met and remains to stay the same cuteness, timeless and cuteness. I can't. I can't. Oh my goodness. So, Donnie, we have just because I know your life story, because I've been fortunate enough to have you as a guest in my class, your story, and I want to drive this so this is beneficial for you and our listeners, is interesting. Not that everybody's story isn't, but you know, to go from having a retail store, like, oh my God, what was I doing to becoming a buyer, to pivoting to a quote unquote influencer and what's an influencer to being on QVC and working with the biggest handbag brands, and uh then turning yourself into some sort of huge brand personality and all of this, it's to me like that is the ultimate flex of understanding the pivot because you are good at it, and also recognizing how you don't need to be everything to everyone on every platform.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, it's been uh you said it perfectly, and it has been a pivot a few times. I think I didn't know that in the beginning stages of my career. I was young and thought my dream came true, you know. I I visualized a boutique, it was something I always wanted. I couldn't believe I was making it happen, and it there it was, you know, brick and mortar, buying, bringing in designers, and and it was just it was a thrill and really a dream come true. And, you know, obviously with any business, things shift, things change, and I had some opportunities to do some TV work, broadcast work, and I kind of leaned more into that. And that's what that I had to make a choice between this dream come true boutique that I had, which was, let me tell you, it seems like it was easy, but at the time I was crying and devastated and thinking, like, how could I give up something I was so passionate about for this next maybe stage of my career, which I had no idea where it was gonna go. I mean, potentially it could have just been a one-time thing, and I gave up my boutique and and didn't know where I was going. But I think that's what in business it really takes to be able to grow and change and trust the whole process of everything and know that you have to be flexible. You have to be able to say, you know, maybe this isn't right, let me change it a little bit. And that's kind of how each thing happened. Even now, you know, with the QVC stuff and all that that I'm doing, I had to be okay with that shift and that change and that that new direction, which has been exciting, to be honest and different.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I because I know if I'm not mistaken, you started off working at a hair salon. I did, and then exactly. Gotta love Italians. That's the hookup. Amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I got out of school, you know, with a business degree. And, you know, everyone, I mean, even now, you probably'm young people probably think it, you have these big aspirations, like, oh, okay, I have a business degree. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna get this really cool, amazing job. And I spent the first few months at him from May till September saying, like, okay, it's not as easy to find a job. What do I do? And I went and worked for my cousin. He had an incredible salon, and I managed it. And it really was, you don't know how these things are gonna impact your life until you do trust it and you do it and you jump in because someone could have easily been like, I'm not doing that, or there's got to be something else, or I have to do something in fashion because that's what I wanted. But I had my aunt who was there at the time, and she every day would give me these little tidbits of advice because she was really behind the business. So she was his mother behind the business, and she knew all these things about customers, about the products that they had in the salon, about how to run the salon, about time management. And I would sit there not realizing our little chats were really giving me insight into what I needed to do. And that has carried with me now, 20 years later, into what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03:

It's crazy though, because you you hit the nail on the head because so many people when they start not even so much their career, but when they have this notion of what they've wanted to do, and then they realize, okay, like I need to do something that's so not what I want, in order for that to potentially be a gateway to get me where I'm going. Because after you go to college, especially for at least I can speak to our generation, we were empowered. We worked, we did this. It's like you finish this degree feeling like I've moved 50 mountains, nobody else has. You know, when I graduate, everyone's gonna be throwing jobs at me because I've written papers, I've done this, I've done that. And then you come and you're like, oh my God, I've got to wake up every day and go to a goddamn hair salon that my cousin and aunt are there. Like, what was the purpose? Like, I'm here now talking to people at lunch over hairdryers. Like, come on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And you're like, you know, it's not this or it doesn't feel like the glamorous world. And you, you know, I we came from a different time where I don't think nothing was not to say things are handed now, but I think the expectation is that things are gonna be handed to you. And I didn't grow up with that. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, but they were like, get out there and work and figure it out. You know, my my dad had a company and he was not like, hey, sure, here it is. This is something easy to do. You know, it's like right, right, right, figure it out and cry, and it's gonna be hard and you're gonna struggle and things aren't gonna feel easy. And, you know, he my dad was some one of the first people that said to me, sort of, sort of like I feel like how you are, but he said, You can give up, go ahead. He said, give up, give it up. Don't, you know, you don't have to do it. When I was starting my boutique, he's I was I was like, I can't do this, I can't do this. Give up. He's like, You don't have to do it, get rid of it, go work for someone. He's like, You'll you'll get paid, it'll be fine. You can get a job anywhere, and you know, Starbucks, whatever it might be, and it's fine. And it's funny because when he said that to me, it made me so angry.

SPEAKER_03:

So angry.

SPEAKER_01:

I was so mad. I was like, How dare you? How dare you? And I was like, no, no, that's crazy. I'm doing this, but it put a fire underneath me, and I think that is another thing that kept me going and going and going and going. Cause I was like, all right, so this isn't working, or this is the not, this is not happening, or like I don't put myself in the influencer category, but that came, you know, I was way behind that curve. And that wasn't, I thought, I'm doing TV, I'm not, I don't need to worry about influencer and be and doing social media, I'll do it here and there. And even that now is like, okay, well, how am I gonna make this work? What am I gonna do? And I'm not gonna stop because there's so many or because somebody's already doing this.

SPEAKER_03:

So yeah, and so I believe your boutique was called Bella Don, just because I remember everything. How was it to like baptism by fire, learn buying? And where did you get the money from to buy? Like, was all this saved money? Did you sell your childhood bed? Like, where did all this come from?

SPEAKER_01:

I was still living at home when all my friends were going and getting cool apartments and Hovokan and you know, doing all this fun stuff. I was like, oh, okay, I'm gonna be I'm gonna stay at home. So I didn't have a rent or anything like that. A lot of my friends were literally going to the city, getting these apartments and fun stuff. I was living at home and it's it's funny now because people say it to me, like, oh, you're still holding on to your communion money. And at the time, that's exactly what I was doing. Amazing. I've always been amazing saver. To this day, I'm I'm like that. I save a lot and I always have, you know, I'm afraid of credit card debt and all that stuff. So I did save a lot. I had about$10,000 that I was able to start with. And I threw myself into it. I had no idea about buying. I had no learning in college, and I went to trade shows and people were talking to me, and they're like, Oh, you're gonna do a 2.2 markup? You're gonna and I just said, Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, that's what I'm doing. And then let me tell you, at the time, this is like 2004. Uh-huh. We had the internet, but we weren't like Googling. It wasn't so simple. It was like work, and I have some of my old notebooks of research that I was doing. I would spend hours just trying to figure out what people were talking about.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, when you come home, you're like 2.2 markup. How do I, how do I, how do I, what do I? And you know, the thing is about markup and coming from Garmento Offspring, my dad, and I will never forget this because retail math is still not my strength. It's one of those things that he said that so many businesses fail because they don't know how to do the basics of these kinds of mark up, mark down, mark on, mark up, you know, all of this. It's just pretty wild. So to say, like, okay, do I double it? You know, and it's like nowadays for the those who don't even know, like when you go to a restaurant, how it'll actually give the math for the tip.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_03:

And how the tip was 15% when we grew up. Right. And now, God forbid it's 20, 25, and 30. And how they do the math. So nobody like we had to figure all that out. Like, how do you do 15%? Like, what? And people like double the tax, and you're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But that's not 15%. Like, what's 15%? So when someone's telling you 2.2 and you got your communion money, and you're like, holy shit, like, I guess, sure, absolutely. I'm excited to share my new book with you. Welcome to Savvy Susanna's Amazing Adventures in Handbags and the start of Susanna's triumphant journey to become a young handbag designer. Filled with ingenuity, fun, and a hint of steam. Susanna will inspire children and you everywhere to follow their dreams and put in the hard work to get there. Savvy Susanna is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever you get your books. Thanks for your support.

SPEAKER_01:

I had no idea. When I was talking to these people, I had no idea. And I think it's a good trait that I don't know if it's learned anymore to do that or to just, you know, be bold enough to say, like, I'm gonna figure it out, but be willing to learn too. Like I was always willing to learn from people. I asked a ton of I still ask a ton of questions to this. You know, like I'm asking, like, what do you mean? What is that? What do I do? You know, and I think those questions, even on, you know, I'd go on sets and they'd have, I'd bring clothing, you know, styling clothing, and a photographer was setting up like a lighting and they'd put this gel over the light in a different color. And I was like, what do you mean a gel? What is that? What does that mean? What are you doing? And it didn't, I didn't need to know that, but it because the next time you went on something, you kind of knew already what they were doing and maybe could help in another you're like, where's your gel?

SPEAKER_03:

Where's your goddamn color gel? What's wrong with you? What kind of photographer are you?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, exactly. You know, you don't realize how you can ask questions in other industries or in other parts, how they're gonna they're gonna all cross over and help you, you know, get better at what you do.

SPEAKER_03:

When you had your store, did you accept that that was going to be your life 24-7? Because hiring your first employee is pretty traumatizing. And then you're like, do I trust them? Do I not trust them? Do I need to be there? Do I not need to be there? I can never ever go on vacation. Do I deserve to go on vacation? How did you cope with all that? Because I know all of this like carries over to where you are now.

SPEAKER_01:

It does. I was there 24-7. I did not care about anything. You know, friends were getting married, weddings, showers, things were happening, and I was like, no, my boutique's open and my boutique's open and I'm here. The only day that I was closed was on Mondays. That was the only day, which I have to say, somewhat still carries over into my life now, even though I don't have a boutique, is like Mondays are still my day that like I'll do work, but I still keep that like as a day of like what I need to do versus you know other stuff, even though I'm, you know, constantly on isn't that the day that hair salons are closed too? It is, which probably carried over from that. Ironically. But yeah, I was it all goes back to the hair salon. It does. It lit it it sets the pattern. But I I loved it. I loved it so much that I didn't care that I had to be there all the time. And I was so, so, so scared to leave it. I remember one of the first people was a really good friend of mine, Jackie. She came and worked and would work for me here and there when I really, really couldn't be there. I mean, like an hour or two, never like a full day, maybe towards like the third or fourth year. But it was so hard to trust somebody because one, you know, they're working with your customers. Two, they have to know the product. They're taking credit cards and money and closing at the time, like it's now it's it's to think about it, you know, the credit card processing was so different than it is today. And you had to close out. And if they didn't, that would mess up everything, like all your accounting. And so it's like, well, did you close out? And there were times when I went back there at 11 o'clock at night to make sure the credit card machine was closed so the next day everything was was good to go.

SPEAKER_03:

Just then all the numbers would be off.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, everything would be off, and it was hard to start the next day. So it was scary. And then I my first employee that I hired was actually a store owner two doors down, his sister. We were really good friends, we became really good friends because he owned a barber shop. And his sister had just had her first, I think first or second baby, and she wanted a part-time job. She didn't want to do anything too much, and she lived really close nearby. And so she worked out as my first employee, which was scary and amazing and paying someone, and like now you have this responsibility to somebody else because they're relying on you to, you know, basically be an income for them. So that was terrifying. And of course, there's a million ups and downs and things that happen internally that make, you know, the business run. So that was scary. I think I think that hiring someone was something that always, like from that time on, was something that I was always a little scared to do because when I did close my boutique, having to tell somebody you're closing is like terrifying and oh my god. Yeah, it's a sign of failure in your mind. It is it is completely. And I, you know, I I think for big that whole s old saying of like everybody who's you know successful or runs a business, they have to go through failures. And at the time I would never want to admit that at all. But now it's like the greatest thing I have because of everyone I work with and all the knowledge I gained from it. So it's crazy.

unknown:

Really?

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, how because if I remember the story correctly, did you start approaching local TV channels, or it just kind of organically happened that you started doing outreach and then you're like, oh, I'm good at this. Oh, I can talk about retail trends. Oh, I can talk about more than just my store. It's I I am my own brand beyond Bella Don.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. So I started, I had an amazing opportunity. Fox Good Day New York came to me because of a product that I had in the store. They it it was these bubble bands, they were called, and they were bands that you would wear. It was kind of like like skims, somehow like skims are today. And it would like enhance your body, make you look good in jeans. Anyway, they were these bands that I carried from a small business, a woman business-owned company out in the Midwest, which was I didn't even realize my impact on something like this because it was just I thought it was a cool product to sell. Fox Good Day New York came and they asked, they called and they said, you know, can we come and do a segment on this? And I was like, What? I never, I never heard, you know, I what's a segment? Yeah, like what do I do? The whole thing. And again, then learning experience. I said yes. I didn't know anything about a segment or what what that meant, but I figured it out. I they came, they said, We're gonna come to your boutique, we're gonna shoot this. I thought it was gonna be this big, huge production team of like cameras and lights and 20 people.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it was it's like two people with people with a tripod and a light, if that. Yeah, two people, it's maybe a half hour.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god. My family was excited, everyone was there, like everyone had to come and see this segment. We had food cake.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, of course. You need to have like uh we gonna feed you. I thought this was it, and like they're trying to be in and out in like an hour. They must I can't even imagine what they were thinking because they're like, I've got the meats, I've got meats. Come on, my mom went and got it from the good place. We got meats.

SPEAKER_01:

What's wrong with it? Exactly. And it's it's really funny to think about now. And they came in, they filmed, it was quick. We sat down, they set it up, it was in and out, you know, 45 minutes, maybe. And we were just oh, like, oh, okay. And you know, when's it gonna air? And they don't they don't air. But that honestly was probably the beginning. Well, it was the beginning that I got that first taste of broadcast, and I was like, this is interesting. Oh, you were like, okay, I'm I'm I'm good. Like, this is fun, I could do this. And the really exciting part was, and at the time it doesn't really happen as much now, but the products flew out the door. And now I had this other challenge of figuring out, you know, you know how they say like something it could be too good? Well, that's what happened. Be careful what you wish for. Exactly. Because now all these orders are coming in. I have somewhat of a website in place, but no way for them, no e-commerce for them to order. So I'm getting emails telling me we want to. How can I I ship this and da da da? Yeah. So now logistically, I have to figure out my shipping. Goes back to pricing. So are you gonna totally price yourself out? Because now you don't have any, you didn't research how to how it's the cost effectiveness of shipping. So I'm just shipping stuff like regular. I remember it was like$7.99 to ship United's Postal Service or whatever. And then the brand had to have enough. So now they're sending them to me to get them get them out the door. It was a crazy, the whole process was wild to see how it went. And it I really at the time I wish I had more e-commerce setups. I could have probably sold so many more, but it was a good good learning experience. And then there's no way you would have known. I I wouldn't there was no, I was so fresh to this whole side of things. And I wish today it was like that because TV today doesn't sell product like that at all. You're lucky if you sell one today. You can go on national TV to a two million people audience, and it does not have that impact.

SPEAKER_03:

No, after Sex in the City, it was like Yeah, you had you you had it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_03:

There, there has been no other, I think, cultural sell-throughs like Christ show other than Sex in the City. I mean, after that, there were so many like attempts. Yeah. But there, you know, especially during your time of having your boutique, like that was that was the time of boutiques. That was the time of small stores. And I genuinely think that using bookstores as my case study, because bookstores are packed now, packed, that people are going back to see, feel, touch. That's why I believe boutiques are doing better than actual retail, because people want that personalized attention. They want to know that you can buy it from me. Like, either I'm gonna buy it from you or I'm gonna buy it online. I'm absolutely not shopping someplace else to get it. And that's the whole way. Like these boutiques are essentially curators for you. If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the handbag designer 101 masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture, and market a handbag brand, broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes. For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the handbag designer Bible, founded the handbag awards, and created the only handbag designer podcast.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in-depth course, from sketch to sample to sale. Whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start up again, or if you had a brand and need some strategic direction, the handbag designer 101 Masterclass is just for you.

SPEAKER_03:

So let's get started, and you'll be the creator of the next it bag. Join me, Emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. So be sure to sign up at Emily Blumenthal.com slash masterclass and type in the code I'mCast to get 10% off your masterclass today.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it it's true. You know, it's funny that you bring that. I don't even know if you might know, but right now I'm actually for the last three years, there's a spa with a boutique that I've been buying and curating for. Nice because yeah, yeah. So they're in New Jersey. They're a huge, like one of the biggest spas in New Jersey, D. Pasqual. And they knew I've known them for years. And we tested it out. The owner was like, come, you know, this is like about three years ago. He said, it's not gonna, you're not gonna commit a lot of time. He's like, I know you've you've you've had a boutique. And it really, it was full, it's full circle for me because I don't have to be there. I go there once a week to curate it. I buy, you know, I'm able to do all the buying basically virtually. And you don't need to worry about like your money. No, it exactly. I'm no over. I just, you know, I I don't have any of that, but I get a little bit of what I always loved came back to me for doing this. But to your point, I see how incredible it is to for people to come and actually pick an item up and look at it, and they're loving it. And it's if I had this then, I I don't even know. I can't even imagine because it's just been growing in the last three years, it's grown so much, and they do. They want the experience, they want to sit down and smell the candle, they want to touch the clothing, they want to put the necklace on and see how it looks. And I think we were missing that so much. It's like, but the boutiques can do that more than you know, big box stores can. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_03:

I I couldn't agree more. And actually, you pivoted into being a personality per se. And I guess, you know, especially from a brand perspective, you've had this retail experience, you know how to buy, you have a sense of like retail trends, but not on a large scale, but on a molecular level. And now you're like, okay, I'm gonna give all that up. I'm gonna become an influencer, but I don't want to be considered an influence or influencer. I want to be, I want to be the person that people pay to promote their product, as opposed to, you know, there's so many facets of that. Like, I don't want to be called a brand ambassador because that's not who I am. So, how are you able to like mentally say, okay, I can live off of this? Because you still have to procure clients, you still have deliverables, you still have all that same crap that you would in a store.

SPEAKER_01:

I really stayed true to myself as much as I could. One with saying, I'm only, you know, the big brands, they come in and they reach out fast, you know, like they're ready to work with you, they have big budgets. And for me, I and I, and I've worked, you know, I've worked with Blooming Dells, I've worked with some of the bigger ones in different capacities, but there's a soft spot in me from having a boutique to working with like these brands that are trying to get out there or trying to make a name for themselves. And I also I love, you know, I love working with some of the bigger, more established brands as well. But I think for me, that's what fills that gap, is where I know that I'm consulting and I'm bringing some of these unknowns to a new broadcast platform or to some of my platforms on social media. And it's been so fulfilling in that I can do that and get paid to do that. And by balancing out, you know, I'm doing the QVC and it QVC is not something I ever really thought that I would do. And the reason why I said yes to it was because, you know, two very well-known Mark Fisher and Rebecca Minkoff brands are two brands that I 100% can stand behind. You know, the Mark Fisher shoes are shoes I have no problem putting on my feet. I will wear, I'll talk about forever. Rebecca Minkoff, I mean, you know, you've spoken to her. She's amazing as a person. And her brands have been through the years a staple in people's wardrobes. So having those big brands that kind of allow me to do the work for them, but then I can still promote and work with these other brands that don't have as big of a budget, but still can pay in some way, has really made it possible for me to do both. And then also use that as from an influencer point of view as well on my channels.

SPEAKER_03:

So this is so all over the place, but it isn't because I'm so into this conversation. Like I could honestly talk to you for 800 million hours. So, you know, you become Don Del Russo brand, and your brand was still called Bella Don, like the boutique. How are you able to say? Because I think what a lot of brand owners and designers seem to think, especially in the realm of TikTok, that they need to be aces on TikTok, on Facebook, on Instagram. And how are you, because I know that's not your jam. Because I, you know, you can't be the best at everything, and that's not who your core customer and followers are. How are you, as a as a brand owner, as yourself, being your own best publicist? How are you able to recognize that, okay, I'm gonna get really good at just this one, and I'm not gonna stress about the others because I'm sure you still try, but then you're like, what the hell am I doing?

SPEAKER_01:

Totally every single day. And every day I'm figuring out and watching, you know, like all these younger girls that I just have this natural talent for it. I think because they were raised around social media versus, you know, we are so we don't and I it's funny because I look at pictures even that I take now and or the way we hold a camera or what we do, it is so different. It is just so different because we weren't we didn't come in, we didn't come into we know. I I was in my 20s, lit mid 30s when social media really was a thing. So I don't take a picture aesthetically the way these younger people do that looks amazing in one take. I sit down and I'm like, so tell me, are these people taking a thousand? Pictures and getting that one aesthetic one, or are they just like, I don't know. But I gave it, I said, I'm not doing, I'm not going to beat myself up. I do my best to learn and to understand and to see different perspectives and to understand, you know, maybe the little tiny shifts that are happening, or noticing on Instagram that there's, you know, less people holding a camera and talking it this way, and more people being aesthetically taking a picture and letting you figure out what's going on in the picture.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, it's it's things like that that I think it's picking up on and just paying attention and not trying to be that. I'm not gonna be that. I'm gonna do my best to be as true and authentic to myself that I can be. And even working with brands, I tell brands that immediately. I'm like, listen, if you're gonna give me this like full rundown of exactly how you want something to be or something said, I may not be the person for you because I'm gonna talk about it the way I talk about it, and I'm not gonna hold a product up and say, This is use this.

SPEAKER_03:

Have you had to say to brands, like, because it's hard when someone's gonna give you money and for you to be authentic and being like, this isn't gonna work. I can't do what you need me to do to be the best version of the publicist that you want me to be for your brand.

SPEAKER_01:

I have, and that's hard. It's really, really hard when the money is there. And you know, I can I talk to my family. I'm like, is this am I crazy? Like, am I crazy for saying no to this? You know, like is that nuts? And sometimes they're like, Yeah, you are crazy, but I feel like for some reason, every time you and it's so cliche, but you say no to something, something else does come in. And it really does because I had an opportunity, like just with QVC before what I'm doing now, and it wasn't with a brand that I really felt comfortable with, and I said no, and I was like, that was probably a huge mistake, and now I'm here with two that I love. And I think you really have to know yourself, like you have to know yourself, who you are, what you stand for, and how you're gonna do things and how what what are your maybe not like 10 years from now, but what are your next steps in the next few years to see you what direction you're gonna go and how you're gonna get there and with who?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So right now, what are you most known for? You go on QVC, you represent Mark Fisher for footwear, you do Rebecca Minkoff for handbags, you have your podcast, you have your podcast, why am I drawing a blank on it? Well, live the glamour too. Live the glamour, right? So, what else makes Dawn and what brands should approach you for what you want to do?

SPEAKER_01:

So I am Live the Glamour, it's my blog, it's the podcast, and that's what I it's like a culmination of everything I've learned and being on all these podcasts and broadcast networks and all the things that I've done. I finally, I finally said, okay, it's time for me to to create all of this on my own, my own site. And I think that's what's really it's helped me because it's made me have more of a of a solid direction with all this other stuff going on. Yeah. I sit down and I work on it and I'm able to say, like the brands that are on there now, I love talking about them and I know that they're ones that I really believe in and I can do it with like with freedom without someone saying, like, that price is too high, we can't talk about that. That doesn't belong, that's not for our customer. So for me, live the glamour is and you know, I'm working on a trademark for it because I really I believe in it and I know that behind it there's a lot more. You know, it's it's something that's really creating. I think in the future, it's gonna create a lot more than I even can recognize right now. And so for me, that's just the direction that I'm really going in. And I'm just trusting that that it's right. And if I can be, you know, to a brand when I sit down and I talk to a brand and I give them the time, like it's not just like, hi, what are you gonna pay me? But I actually get to know them and learn who they are and build relationships. And that's always been my thing, is like, how do I, you know, I've known you for for years, and I think that things come up and you don't know how they're gonna come up, or you don't know how you're gonna work together. And so I'm not I'm not sitting down saying, like, well, where's the money? What are you paying me? I think let's build the relationship and then so much more will come out of it.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my God. Donnie, you're my most favorite person to talk to. I just want to have you come back just so we can talk and record it because I think people are lucky to hear our conversations. How can people find you, follow you, learn more about the great Don Del Russo?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I feel the same about you. I I admire all of your work and just you've just always been a person that I look at and say, like, just wow, you're making things happen. It's just tired, but yeah. Well, you really are. I'm on all social media at Don Del Russo, so it's just my name, it's nice and easy. And then at LiveTheGlamour is my blog, my YouTube, and also on social media. So they're both pretty simple.

SPEAKER_03:

And it's Don D E L Space. R-U, I'm watching you spell it with me. R-U-S-S-O. Don Del Russo, the great. Thank you, thank you for joining us. Thank you, Emily, so much.

SPEAKER_01:

It was amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review and follow us on every single platform at handbag designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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Emily Blumenthal

Host