Some people get a job in finance and then get into fashion. Others leave their job in finance and do the same thing. Kind of.
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The last time we spoke about Zoia Kozakov, she was a newly minted Forbes 30 under 30 entrant. Now, it appears that the JPMorgan product manager has moved not only somewhere new, but out of finance entirely: to Chanel, the world’s biggest independent fashion house and maker of finance’s favorite handbags, perfumes, and the likes.
Kozakov was a VP at JPMorgan, and head of device digital wallets for the bank. It’s understood that she’ll be head of digital strategy and insights for Chanel – a sizable step up in seniority. It makes sense, however: JPMorgan spends $15bn on technology alone, more than 10 times Chanel’s entire Capex outlay, which includes things such as opening new stores (for Chanel. Not JPMorgan).
Chanel – and luxury fashion in general – isn’t a frequent next destination in a financial services professional’s career, although it is a frequent destination for the money that they spend. Female analysts in particular have a penchant for the brand, with its black quilted bag seen as the feminine equivalent of Rolexes for male juniors.
That being said, some bankers have been known to dabble in fashion – such as Brandon Snower, also formerly of JPMorgan, who left to start his own fashion brand, Le Alfré, which he still runs to this day – or former Goldman Sachs technologist Rahul Rekapalli, who left to study fashion photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Neither compare, however, to Anoo Rehncy, who left JPMorgan in 2014 to found A Black and White Story, a clothing brand worn by Beyoncé, Stormzy, Tove Lo, and others. She left the brand in 2019, however and is now an advisor to Zeed, a London-based fintech.
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