Meet Lisa Kline

We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Kline recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

My optimism comes from being a true entrepreneur. It is a way of life, my personality and a gift I was born with. I have always used it to guide all of my decisions not only in work but personal as well. You can’t be a risk taker or visionary without being optimistic, or your thoughts, dreams, ideas and concepts will never come to life in a pure authentic way. Being positive opens up the playing field and is a very important energy to have around you and one you give off.

One of the reasons my business is so successful is because I am optimistic and say yes instead of no, and I see the good in almost everything and how it will be beneficial. Optimism is positive and creates growth, newness and life. To have good intentions one’s vision must be clear, pure and full of light.

I opened my first business, the Lisa Kline women’s clothing store on Robertson Blvd at the age of 25. I have always known that with every choice we make there will be consequences, both good and bad, negative and positive. So the best thing to do is make a decision, execute it with intention, intuition and optimism. As a business begins to grow you then nurture it, staying positive and making good decisions along the way as it evolves.

Optimism is a beautiful thing and the path I have always chosen, when I operate from this place it always keeps me on course and guides me. I see the good in people, ideas, brands, companies, storefronts, clothing, design, art and I love bringing them to life and introducing them to the world. One of my greatest pleasures in life is this skill and way of thinking and seeing the world. I highly recommend it! LK

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I have always been passionate and focused on brick and mortar retail since I was a little girl. That was my dream to have a clothing store by the time I was 25 years old. I am an LA Native which makes me lucky because Los Angeles is a creative city, full of life, energy, style and great weather that allows people to live their dreams and really dress however they want all year long. We aren’t bound by seasons allowing for a unique, hip, laid back look. I believe we have a certain style on the west coast which is sexy casual, cool, eclectic and authentic which I brought to life when I opened my shops curating hundreds of brands into a multi branded retail experience. Lisa Kline is the home of LA Style and an Iconic retailer changing the landscape of shopping and retail experiences forever.

I studied Fashion Design at Syracuse University. After I graduated in 1992, I came back to Los Angeles, and worked in retail as I looked for locations and planned the opening of my first store.

August 5th, 1995 I opened my first women’s store on Robertson Blvd called Lisa Kline, when at the time it was a quite sleepy decorators street. In 1999 I was ready for a new category and took the space across the street and opened up Lisa Kline Men. I outgrew that space and moved down the street to a bigger spot and then I opened up Lisa Kline Kids in the original men’s store. I had a trifecta going, it was magical and fun and I put Robertson Blvd on the map. People came from all over the country and world to get the hottest style, trends, brands and of course to see some celebrities. I also had a website called Lisakline.com, a Beverly Hills women’s store, men’s store in Malibu and an outlet store on Melrose.

After a span of almost 2 decades I had built hundreds of brands into household names, hosted a ton of parties, brand launches, charity events, and fashion shows. I was an OG influencer before their were influencers by being featured on shows like the Newlyweds, E!, The Hills, Punked, Hell’s Kitchen, Fox News, and CBS to name a few as well as being featured in all the hottest magazines like Elle, Lucky, Cosmo, Vogue, and GQ. Lisa Kline and Lisa Kline Men is where the stylists shopped to dress TV shows like Melrose Place and 90210, as well as celebrities, musicians, and the entire industry in the late 90’s and early oughts until the landscape of retail had changed.

November of 2007 we had the writer’s strike which was a huge blow to businesses in Los Angeles, then the crash of 2008, which was horrible, then after the tragic death of my husband in January of 2009 of a freak accident leaving me with 2 kids under 5 it was time to close my retail operations. It was all very heartbreaking and such a difficult time for me going through so much loss and transition of things that brought me so much love, joy, stimulation, satisfaction and success.

There wasn’t much time to grieve as overnight I was a single mom and not only lost my husband but also had to start closing my stores, one by one. But before I could do that, in February of 2009 I was asked to cast for a show on Bravo called Launch My Line and I got the part to be a panel judge alongside the twin brother designers, Dsquared2 who hosted the show and Stefani Greenfield formally of Scoop who was my judging counterpart. We started filming the first of 9 episodes in March of 2009 and everyday a car came to pick me up from my house in Malibu and drive me to Burbank to film. I had a trailer, hair and makeup, had to get new outfits for each episode and be on point judging 10 teams of designers with sewers to execute their line who all wanted to be the winner. I would have to say that experience was quite a diversion and distraction from grieving. I never even promoted the show because it was such a hard time in my life I flew under the radar as much as I could.

In 2010 while I still had 3 stores left on Robertson, I got hired to be the Chief Fashion Officer to help launch the “world’s first boutique marketplace” called Vault and curated over 300 brands onto a platform where brands shipped and sold direct to the consumer allowing them to gain control of their image online, increase their margins and engage directly with their audience. This was a true startup tech company down south and with the drive being far from LA, I opened up their LA office across from the Pacific Design center on Melrose, then opened the only retailer on the platform being Lisa Kline and designed and made my own products of an assorted mix of men, women and kids apparel. In 2012 when Vault got bought out by Rakuten and it became extremely corporate it was my time to exit and I got an office in Studio City, relaunched Lisakline.com that I closed right after my husband died and I quickly started consulting and reinventing my business.

Today I am a retail consultant, helping others bring their dreams to life. I also have a brand placement company that places brands on deal segments on major networks like CBS, GMA and the Today Show, creating major exposure for brands as well as selling a lot of units in 24 hours. In addition, I have a styling business where I do makeovers, closet clean outs, packing, and dress men, women and kids, changing peoples confidence and the way the present themselves to the world. I also am a consultant for brands and businesses all in the lifestyle space. In essence I do the same thing I have always done just outside the 4 walls of all my brick and mortar shops.

My passion and skillset is working in retail with talented designers and bringing them to market. I love to curate concepts, themes and categories. I also design lots of branded merchandise and cool products that promote peoples businesses. You can see my work at my store at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica as well as Lou in Los Olivos who I am currently curating a new men’s lifestyle concept for her new store. I have also created several retail concepts for hotels, hair salons, dog parks, pickleball clubs, motorsport events and dealerships, restaurants, spa’s, coffee shops and more.

I love working with interesting talented passionate people and I have made the most incredible friendships and connections over the span of my career that I am so grateful for. It has been pure joy growing brands and concepts from inception and I will never stop because I have a drive that comes from within, a passionate fire that fuels me, a very high energy level and desire to work and help others. LK

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

When I look back on my career I would say the 3 qualities and skills that were most impactful were being a fearless risk taker, a social genius, and being openminded and optimistic!

You must have the ability to take a risk if you are going to start a business and launch an idea. It is taking the path less followed, it is charting new territories, thinking outside the box, being different and interesting, current, and sticking to your vision to execute your dreams as only you know them. You are in charge, you are the CEO, the leader, the one everyone is looking to for advice and guidance. Everything you do in business is a risk but when you believe in yourself and stay true and use your intuition to guide you and create your intention you will be successful.

I didn’t do well in school passing tests and I am not an intellectual, but I understand people and consider myself a social genius which gave me the gift to be able to read people, put myself in other peoples shoes, and connect on a deep level with others. This helped me not only with my staff who worked for me, but my customers who I loved dearly and my reps and designers who I bought my products from. Interacting with all of these people daily was so much fun and so stimulating, it was the best! But It is very important to understand people and to be kind, especially when you are the boss. I had 85 employees for years and years and I always knew how to respect them, understand them, motivate them and make them shine and feel special. I had a very loyal team and I never once had the problems and issues that occur today with employees. It is mind boggling to me because there is a way to create a positive working environment if you are an intuitive, perceptive, generous, and open minded. You must grow with the times and the current world around you, the needs of others and accommodate other people by being aware and in tune daily. You have to command respect by being respectful to others, and you get back what you give.

Lastly, you must be open minded and positive of new ideas. When you are in business you are going to be approached all the time with ideas and opportunities and always be open to listening and inviting them in as they can change your life forever. I always said yes to opportunities, I rarely remember saying no to anything that was brought to me from a brand, a press opportunity, to a party, to a charity, to hiring someone, trying out new things and on and on. I believe that this was truly one of the keys to my success. It is important to try things out and see what happens as you never know until you try and being open minded and positive allows abundance and wonderful things to happen. Having a business is ever evolving and changing literally from day to day. It is like having a child. There are so many phases of development that take time and patience to nurture. You must react quick to different situations that you are faced with in business and life and make changes accordingly, gracefully, swiftly and seamlessly. You also must be very involved and hands on. LK

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am interested in partnering and or collaborating with a person or company who has an existing retail operation that needs a revamp and can be improved, or a company that has an established business that would benefit from a retail component but doesn’t know how to execute the concept.

My focus is increasing revenue by curation of the best brands in the marketplace, analyzing numbers, sell throughs, hiring and training staff, product knowledge, floor layout, store design, lighting, packaging, merchandise mix, buying, merchandising, branded goods and much more.

I am versed and interested in all categories across the board from men’s, women’s, kids, gift, beauty, and home as well as concepts such as golf or pickleball, country club pro shops, dog clubs, car dealerships, anything with motorsports, restaurant, wineries, coffee shops, or anything in hospitality from a gift shop to a spa and the business can be independent or multi chain. I am able and interested in traveling inside or outside of the US to work on a concept.

Please email me and let’s connect!
LK@lisakline.com
Thank you!
LK

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lisakline.com
• Instagram: @lisaklineofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.kline.10/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/likline/