Sophie Krakowski is Vice President of Marketing at Vivrelle, a first-of-its-kind membership club redefining luxury access through a curated shared closet of designer handbags, jewelry, and accessories. She oversees brand, growth, partnerships, and member experience, helping guide Vivrelle’s evolution from an early-stage startup into a fast-growing lifestyle brand with tens of thousands of members. With a background spanning fashion public relations, brand strategy, and luxury hospitality, Krakowski brings a deep understanding of how consumer behavior, cultural relevance, and technology intersect in the modern luxury landscape.
Named to our Marketers to Watch list in partnership with The Wall Street Journal, Krakowski shared her perspective on AI-powered personalization, scaling a luxury brand without losing its white glove experience, and the leadership mindset required to navigate rapid growth in an evolving consumer market.
What book or podcast do you recommend to marketing leaders?
This is more specific to marketing in the fashion industry, but I am an avid listener of WWD Voices. As a marketer, it’s important to have a firm grasp on the industry you’re in, including new technology announcements, brand launches, and overall consumer trends. WWD Voices does an amazing job of bringing in interesting industry leaders to share experiences while also explaining industry news in a clear and impactful way.
How are you and your team currently using AI?
AI is becoming a cornerstone of how Vivrelle is evolving the luxury fashion experience. Most recently, we launched Ella, the virtual AI stylist, as part of our first-of-its-kind partnership with Revolve and FWRD. This built on our new Complete the Look feature, where AI technology offered curated items to pair with Vivrelle accessories. Ella represents a major step forward in seamlessly integrating rental, resale, and traditional retail under one umbrella through custom-built technology designed to make online shopping more intuitive. Ella transforms the member experience by offering fully customized, interactive styling based on real-life prompts like “I need a bachelorette party outfit” or “help me pack for a girls’ trip to Miami.” It curates head-to-toe looks, pulling from Vivrelle’s luxury inventory alongside ready-to-wear pieces from REVOLVE and FWRD. Ella AI creates a true 360-degree, one-stop shopping experience.
What’s a prediction you have for marketing over the next few years?
The next era of marketing will be defined by hyper-personalized customer experiences. Beyond traditional ads, SMS, and email marketing, there will be fully individualized experiences for customers at every point in their journey. As AI matures, we’ll continue to improve at predicting what consumers want, how they shop, and where they look for inspiration. The brands that win will be the ones that can pair AI-driven insights with emotional storytelling and cultural relevance.
What’s the most innovative or exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
Working with REVOLVE and FWRD this past year has been a dream. What began as an add-on to the Vivrelle membership experience with Complete the Look evolved into a multidimensional and fully integrated experience that spans technology, rental, and physical retail. Bringing together next-generation technology, curated physical experiences, and high-profile cultural touchpoints made this partnership the most innovative project I have worked on to date. It has pushed Vivrelle into an exciting new chapter and has been incredibly rewarding to help shape.
What’s the most pressing business challenge you’ve faced in the last year and what have you done to solve it?
One of our biggest challenges was navigating massive growth while maintaining the level of service and curation our members expect. Scaling a luxury platform requires a different level of attention to detail, especially when product demand, inventory flow, and member expectations are constantly evolving. To solve this, we invested heavily in data infrastructure, smarter forecasting tools, and cross-functional communication, ensuring marketing, ops, and product were all synced. This shift empowered my team to create more tailored campaigns, drive stronger retention, and maintain the white-glove experience that defines Vivrelle, even as our member base continues to grow rapidly.
What leadership muscle is most important for marketers to exercise?
It’s definitely adaptability. The media landscape and trends change daily with new platforms emerging that generate new consumer patterns. Successful marketers stay curious, flexible, and willing to pivot. Adaptability also means empowering your team to try new things without fear of failing. Over the course of my career, I’ve learned the best ideas never come from playing it safe.
What’s the most game-changing piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
The most game-changing advice I have ever received is to run toward the problems that other people run away from. That guidance has shaped the way I approach challenges, leadership, and growth throughout my career. I have learned that the moments that feel the most intimidating are often the ones that lead to the biggest breakthroughs.
What gives you energy and inspiration outside of work?
In my personal life, I am the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Holocaust education and remembrance has always been incredibly important to me. I’m a founding board member of ASHER, an organization centered around the mission to educate the world about the Holocaust, and the history of how it came to be, ensuring its memory and lessons serve as powerful tools to face antisemitism and hatred. I am so honored to carry on the responsibility of educating others on the issue.
Marketers to Watch is a recognition series to spotlight highly innovative and forward-thinking marketing leaders in the community. If you have someone you’d like to nominate for the series, apply here.
