Meet with Stefani Greenfield, Founder and Owner of My Next Act, in New York City.
Retail, or even fashion, was never her goal. With a degree in Mass Communication from Tulane University, Stefani Greenfield was returning to New York to become a copywriter or a lyricist.
But, despite those aspirations, people couldn’t help but constantly note what she was wearing. Mixing vintage pieces with the good stuff Grandma Bunny would buy her from the 3 B’s (Bergdorf’s, Bonwit’s, and Bloomingdale’s), and anything else from denim to rose cut diamonds, Greenfield would invariably combine uptown chic with downtown cool so effortlessly, enviably, and repeatedly, that she could no longer ignore the constant refrain she kept hearing from friends, acquaintances, even strangers, “Oh, my God! I would die to shop in your closet!”
Even visionaries can use a break, and Greenfield’s came in 1989, when through knowing someone who knew someone, she was hired as an assistant to the Vice President of Donna Karan’s new DKNY collection, a clothing line whose instant success literally created the bridge market in retail. After rising in five years to National Sales Manager of DKNY Jeans, the fastest growing division in the Karan empire at the time, Greenfield moved to ESPRIT where she was Vice President of Merchandising and Design.
However, after a dinner in Soho with her soon to be partner, Greenfield’s career as well as the retail landscape was about to change. So what was this girl who could take pieces from a myriad of collections and flawlessly put them together about to do? She would create the next retail sensation. Satisfying millions of knowing shoppers by realizing her dream of “The Ultimate Closet,” Greenfield launched SCOOP in 1996 with her partner Uzi Ben Abraham. So trailblazing was their concept of gleaning the best of high and low fashion, ready-to-wear with undiscovered talent, the cleanly tailored with the sensual bohemian, all layered to entice a whip smart urban customer (the one everyone who loves to shop believes he and/or she is), SCOOP became a phenomenon, and now includes 18 stores nationwide.
After selling SCOOP in late 2008 Greenfield launched with CEO Mindy Grossman the first ever fashion/lifestyle "selevision" show on HSN - "Curations with Stefani Greenfield". Greenfield was a judge on Bravo's "Launch My Line", appeared in a monthly segment, "Fashion Roadmap" on TODAY and hosted "Unracked with Gilt Groupe", an innovative web series of interviews with fashion icons. Greenfield was approached in 2011 by The Jones Group to be their Chief Creative Officer and spent 2 years leading design, merchandising and marketing of their portfolio of brands.
As a serial entrepreneur Greenfield was ready for a new chapter. In 2013 she launched MY NEXT ACT, a global consulting company focused on the creation, ideation and "storytelling" of brands. With Project Runway creator Desiree Gruber, Greenfield founded the accessory brand Theodora & Callum. Greenfield is the Creative Brand Director at Diane von Furstenberg and on the E! docu-series “House of DVF”.
Greenfield is a Co-founder of Love Heals -The Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education, and a Board Member of Baby Buggy.