Sara Villari of Occasionette
Sara Villari by Parikha Mehta Photography
This interview is part of the Lady Boss Co-Host Series
Sara Villari is hosting the January 2017 edition of Lady Boss at her shop in Philadelphia. Purchase tickets here.
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Let's get to know her
Q: COFFEE OR TEA?
A: Coffee! I'm obsessed with my Aeropress lately.
Q: GUILTY PLEASURE?
A: I'm secretly a huge Taylor Swift fan, and my favorite thing about work from home days is that I always have Mad Men in the background. I've probably watched the entire series at least 15 times.
Q: WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO LATELY?
A: Spoon, always Spoon. And I love podcasts — mostly Stuff You Should Know and Young House Love (fun fact: John and I knew each other in college).
Q: WHO ARE YOU CRUSHING ON?
A: The embroidery work of @sarahkbenning on Instagram.
Q: CURRENT MANTRA (OR PHRASE, OR AFFIRMATION...)?
A: Do good work and share it with people.
Occasionette storefront by Parikha Mehta Photography
What makes her a boss
WHAT DO YOU DO?
A: Occasionette is my gift and card shop.
Q: TELL US ABOUT A PROJECT YOU RECENTLY WRAPPED
A: Christmas! We make a really big deal out of the winter holidays at Occasionette. As soon as we ring in the New Year, I start working again on the holiday season again. I've learned that to succeed in retail means working a full 6–9 months ahead of the calendar, at a minimum.
Q: WHAT MAKES YOU GO TO WORK EACH DAY?
A: I love how shop owning requires so many different problem solving abilities. A huge part of it is the numbers and logistics — the buying budget, figuring out costs, making sure we're ordering the right numbers on inventory, scheduling staff, ordering a good range of price points. But then I also love the creative part of it — deciding what we will stock (the fun part that everyone thinks of when they imagine what shop keepers do), figuring out how it all gets merchandised, the window displays. I love that my job uses every part of my mind.
Q: TELL US ABOUT A DREAM PROJECT OR CLIENT.
A: My goal is to ultimately grow Occasionette just big enough that we could hire a small creative team to work with me on buying, merchandising and marketing. And I'd love to have a location in Reading Terminal Market.
Q: WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO HOST A LADY BOSS?
A: I was lucky enough to attend my first last summer and I just loved it. I knew I wanted to host because it's the kind of thing I'd love to see more of in Philadelphia.
Sara's happy place: Fishs Eddy in Manhattan
