My partnership with Nuuly
This partnership is truly a full-circle, dream-life moment for me and my personal brand as someone who works in fashion tech for a company that is changing the way people shop. My 9-5 is sustainable fashion and my 5-9 is the creative side of sustainable fashion with some of my dream brands (like Anthropologie and Free People)!
My unsolicited advice for other creators who are beginning to align with and work with brands: do your research. Much like any relationship, you should probably Google them to get a feel for their reputation. Here is a little bit of background on Nuuly:
URBN (Urban Outfitters, Inc.) is Nuuly’s parent company — which also owns brands like Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People. My goal with this partnership as someone who works in the fashion industry is to leverage relationships with the people behind Nuuly’s influencer team. I sent a few invitations to some of the influencer team who I have already spoken with on LinkedIn as a starting point.
The company is seeing rapid growth since it’s inception in 2019. In only six years, Nuuly has turned a profit - a feat which their 15-year-old competitor has yet to achieve. Further, Nuuly is ranked #38 on the world’s 50 most innovating companies of 2025. (source: https://www.fastcompany.com/91270832/nuuly-most-innovative-companies-2025)
Developing a personal brand takes a lot of time and consistency - this strategic approach will likely serve me in the long run. It has taken me about two years to be able to send regrets to brands that are not a fit or in alignment with my audience.
Some of the features that I am loving on the platform so far — referrals! As someone who works in digital marketing and sales - this is truly my bread and butter. Moreover, Nuuly has rental options for kids! This is such a win for parents. Nuuly also offers amazing rental bridal options. As someone who is planning a wedding, this feature is truly a luxury and I cannot for Nuuly to be apart of my wedding story.
I recently watched some of Keke Palmer’s “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” Podcast with DeAndre Brown (The Corporate Baddie) and Raymonte. In the episode, they discuss influencing as a career, brand collaborations and storytelling.
Dre said something which changed the way I approach partnerships.
He says, “a big piece of advice I have for people that are trying to make relationships with brands is you just have to - it’s like building a relationship. Like there’s a team behind the brand. You’re not working with LinkedIn, you’re working with a (management) team that manages LinkedIn’s collaborations. So it’s important that you build relationships with these people on the teams.” He goes on and says a lot these influencers get the really big teams and get the manager, agent, and publicist and feel like they’re too good to talk to anybody. Dre says that he used to send out thank you messages long after the deal is done!
I say this to say that visibility and relationships are incredibly important in influencing and social media as a career! Partnerships can be extremely transactional - but thinking ahead and envisioning what your next 3 months, 5 years, and 10 years is critical.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but let this be your sign to post the content! The truth is, there will never be a perfect time. Your content does not have to be perfect, it just needs to be authentically YOU!
