MICHI (www.michiny.com), blurs the lines between high fashion and high function. Our products are the alchemy of form and function, so you can do more with less. Founded in 2010 in NYC, but now located in Toronto, Canada; our mission is to elevate and inspire women to live an active lifestyle and become more than they ever thought they could.
We are looking for a hungry and experienced PR/ Community Manager who will be responsible to build the MICHI Community of stylish fitness enthusiasts, execute key partnerships/ projects that will further elevate the MICHI brand in the market, broaden the MICHI audiences, and drive traffic through high-impact profiling moments.
Are you a natural “Connector” and Storyteller? Are you trend savvy with a strong interest in fashion and fitness? Is your finger on the pulse of the Cultural Zeitgeist? Do you understand the world of PR, Influencer relationships and social media's best practices and trends? Do you love connecting with people? Do you believe in the “Power of Community”? If so, keep reading!
THE ROLE
We’re looking for an experienced PR/ Community Manager to be responsible for managing our PR, community and partnership relationships. You will create meaningful relationships and partnerships that position MICHI at the heart of the fashion x fitness community. You will develop and grow our network of strategic partners, who will in turn, grow revenue for the brand.
In addition to community building, partnership management and negotiations, you will also have an opportunity to put on your media hat as you will be responsible for seeking and executing PR and Communications opportunities.
- Drive the US & Canadian market initiatives - creating meaningful relationships and partnerships that position MICHI at the heart of the Pilates fitness, fashion and wellness communities.
- Grow the MICHI community through a variety of Pilates fitness instructors, fashion/ fitness/ wellness lifestyle content creators and influencers from ‘mega’ to ‘nano’, focusing on underserved but aligned special interest communities.
- Research, identify, prioritize, and secure collaboration/ partnership opportunities within communities of interest: Pilates, tennis, golf, fitness, wellness, fashion, travel and sports etc.
- Build, manage, and grow strategic partnerships with key affiliates, brand ambassadors and brand partners.
- Build and manage the ambassador program, owning the ambassador activation calendar and driving community outreach
- Drive meaningful relationships with targeted, high-level external audiences, including the media, public and key influencers.
- Maintain strong relationships with press, stylists, influencers, and VIPs.
- Manage PR sample distribution and supporting press previews to promote products and collections.
- Monitor editorial coverage including competitor research.
- Lead across many internal functions to create partner strategies that drive meaningful business results.
- Communicate partner needs and feedback with the team so we can continually improve products and service.
- Effectively communicate the operational needs to all necessary internal departments, with great persuasion skills, including enabling others to meet deadlines.
- Cultivate relationships with all key press and strategic contacts while fostering already existing relationships.
- Accountable for the execution and relationship nurturing of partnerships and collaborations with:
- Influencers
- Content Creators
- Brand collaborators
- Brand Ambassadors
- Fitness Instructors
- Press, Editor, Stylist and VIP relationships
- Public Figures and Celebrities
- Blog Partners
- Other duties as required.
OUR IDEAL CANDIDATE – IS IT YOU?
EXPEREINCE
- Established fashion and/or fitness industry relationships and experience working with press, influencers and brand partners in the luxury/ contemporary/ premium fashion industry (3+ years).
- Strong press/stylist/influencer relations is preferred.
- An understanding of what it takes to build and grow a community - ideally with first hand experience.
COMPETENCIES:
- Connector: Excellent relationship building skills - both externally and internally across teams and managing external partners.
- Strong team player: Ability to succeed in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment while maintaining high levels of operational rigor and business excellence.
- Results Driven: Proven track record of exceeding revenue targets, ability to measure outcomes and monetize each partnership.
- Empathetic Listener and Persuasive Speaker: Strong ability to communicate effectively and succinctly.
- Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; anticipates future consequences and trends accurately; broad industry knowledge and perspective; long-term oriented; creatively creates competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
- Proactive: Self-starter with an entrepreneurial mindset - naturally curious, creative problem solver and action orientated.
- Customer focused: Driven to deeply understand and serve the target audience therefore acts with the ideal customer in mind.
- Effective at dealing with ambiguity: Effectively copes with change, comfortable to shift gears when necessary, able to act without having the total picture and can handle uncertainty.
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
6 MONTHS
- You now have in depth knowledge and understanding of the MICHI products and customer segments.
- You are starting to really understand the MICHI customer/ audience and you’re very comfortable vetting influencers and partners.
- You have learned a lot about the fashion and athletic apparel industry, especially the underserved athletic communities ideal for MICHI (ie. Pilates, tennis, golf, gym-studio). You are aware of the communities our top competitors already serve (ie. yoga, running, cycling).
- You understand the importance of staying focused on our audience segments and building awareness through the audiences of our top competitors.
- You are off to a great start developing relationships with press, influencers and brand ambassadors.
- Through social media engagement, posting and DM’s, you are learning about the MICHI audience interests, habits, patterns and preferences.
- You already have some great wins under your belt including over 150 tagged posts that strongly meet MICHI criteria.
- You regularly gift 50-100+ influencers per month and the quality and quantity keeps growing.
- You are now using tracking codes (using utm tracking like Sharesale etc) to incentivize influencers so they can share in the upside.
12 MONTHS
- You have developed solid relationships with a wide range of influencers (and their assistants) from ‘mega’ to ‘nano’ as well as brand ambassadors, trainers, celebrity gatekeepers (personal assistants, stylists, music industry assistants), other like-minded brands and wholesale partners.
- You have a routine to regularly engage and connect with our partners to build relationships – you keep them aware of our wins and celebrate theirs too.
- You have grown our Instagram beyond 150K because of the relationships built and from your engagement and outreach.
- Our TikTok channel is growing exponentially in part because of the valuable and relevant content and influencers you have sourced.
- You have made a number of smart recommendations and we’ve developed new products and marketing initiatives based off of your reporting and recommendations.
- Our Ecommerce sales has grown 2-3x because of the new audiences we are reaching and because of the social proof we are sharing.
- Our influencer database has grown immensely and you have found a great way to keep everything organized in a CRM/ system so it’s easy to find new influencers and it’s very easy to track and measure success.
ABOUT MICHI
MICHI (www.michiny.com), is technical women’s sportswear that doesn’t look like it. It’s the alchemy of form and function, so you can do more with less. Our mission is to elevate and inspire women to live an active lifestyle and become more than they ever thought they could. Our durable, versatile products are ethically Made in Canada and crafted with certified technical fabrics. We defy the status quo to fuse elevated aesthetics with high performance functionality.
MICHI is sold in the world’s most prestigious department stores, upscale gyms and eCommerce platforms; including Holt Renfrew and Sporting Life in Canada, Selfridges in the UK, Le Bon Marche in France, Luisa Via Roma in Italy, Asport in Taiwan, SKP in China, and Equinox Gyms in the US, UK and Canada.
Our products are Made in Canada and in Sedex certified factories globally, out of bluesign® and OEKO-TEX® certified materials from Italy, Brazil, and throughout Asia. As a collaborative team, we create value through strong communication, innovative thinking and taking responsibility to put our customers first.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH
Email both your cover letter and resume to: careers@michiny.com
Please include the job title MICHI PR/ Community Manager in the subject line of your message.