New York native, Minya Quirk, steps into our Confessional this week. Her beginnings as a nanny, working at the now defunct girlshop.com, set desiging music videos, and freelance journalism have led her to now being part of a trio in one of the most important public relations and wholesale sales agencies in today’s lifestyle market.
Last month, this self-proclaimed “jive talker, poet, spin master” and her partners launched a highly anticipated and successful fashion tradeshow, Capsule. Some of our favorite international labels were present, such as Wood Wood and Henrik Vibskov, and we became instant fans.
Minya Quirk’s got the drive and knows exactly what it takes!
Name and Age, please:
Minya Quirk, 33
Marital status:
Married (spiritually, not legally)
Where are you originally from?
New York
How long have you lived in New York?
My family and I lived on the Upper West Side until we moved permanently to our country house in Westchester when I was 11. I went to college in Massachusetts, finished and moved as fast as I could to Williamsburg, then to the LES then to…
What neighborhood in NY do you live in?
Harlem!
What are your favorite memories of New York since living here?
Saturdays at the old Central Park zoo (before it was snazzy), sledding in Riverside Park, adventures on the M104 bus. The whole vibe of Manhattan in the late 70s and 80s – the proverbial old New York. Drinking in the streets, the old mega clubs, dusty summers in an uncharted Williamsburg (chilling at McCarren pool before it was a concert venue (!), napping on rooftops, eating beans every night for dinner because we were broke), the sound of roosters in the garden next to my building on 11th Street, War at Summerstage, Biggie at the Harlem State Building, drives down the West Side Highway almost anytime, a particularly lovely Sunday sunset viewed from my living room a few weeks ago.
Give us a brief rundown of your past work experience.
It wasn’t run of the mill. I checked union workers in at the Javits center every morning with my best friend Tim for a month. We had to be there at 5am. I’ve been a personal assistant for rich old guys. I was a nanny on the Upper East Side. I went with an ex to Australia and Singapore and did set dressing for music television stations and then spent all the money traveling (Fiji, New Zealand, Indonesia). I was an executive secretary at a magazine publishing company, I worked at girlshop.com – a now defunct but very pace-setting upstart fashion ecommerce site, then I was a freelance fashion journo and copywriter for about five years.
We know you used to work at Sportswear International. What role did you play there?
In 2000, Sportswear was working on its annual Who’s Who issue (which requires retardedly painstaking work) and I got a gig helping out with that. From there I started writing items, then features. I was the footwear and streetwear girl. They’d send me to the South Hall at MAGIC, I think because no one else wanted to go. I loved writing for that magazine; I respected its intelligence (still do) and had an awesome rapport with my then editor, now partner Edina Sultanik Silver!
How has that experience helped you get where you are today?
I met Edina at Sportswear and it was while writing for them that we devised our master business plan! We actually didn’t know exactly where we were heading, we just wanted to help young indie fashion brands and share our expertise. We both had great contacts. Well, Edina more than me, she’s a serious OG in the industry.
Tell us little about Brand Pimps & Media Whores (BPMW).
After a moving offices four times, about fifty interns and some trial and error, we’ve built the company into a full service public relations and wholesale sales agency in three and a half years. We also have a solid consulting business (retail strategy, planning, merchandising etc) and a buying office plus run a new-sy and trend-centric blog called www.wearethemarket.com. And we just started a trade show. Phewwww. It’s a lot. But we are ferocious and we always, always think we can do more!
What was your first year in business like?
Someone told us then “the first year is easy, it’s all accolades and attention - it’s the second and third years that are harder.” I think they were right – now’s not the wide-eyed wonder of year one, now we’re building a real business, dealing with growing pains, doing a lot of strategizing and bill paying! Year one was the craziest, but also the most fun.
Tell us about how you and your 2 other partners fit together. Do each of you have your own “expertise”?
Edina: full of great ideas, the little Capricorn goat that hauls ass up the mountain (even while giving birth to her children) for the sake of our company, gets things started in the blink of an eye. Ridiculously large global network, sleeps four hours a night.
Deirdre: reads books like “Millionaire Women Next Door” and keeps her eye on the prize, a numbers (and sports) nerd, might be a pro golfer when we retire, rocks Excel like nobody’s business, also works at lightning speed, called “Ice Queen” for her conference room poker face.
Me: jive talker, poet, spin master, puppeteer, diplomat, good time girl, nitpicker and last word on aesthetics. (Also, people come to me when they want to complain or request an extra day off).
We’re three hard working New York native feminist lunatics – like peas in a pod.
Congratulations on your recent success of the Capsule tradeshow. Was it a long time in the making for you?
Between all of us at bpmw, we’ve attended a lot of trade shows all over the world. We thought the time was right for a new one in NYC, and we had the “tools,” let’s say, to make it happen. Sam Ben-Avraham, founder of the Project show, was one of our very first clients. He really mentored us, and we learned two important things from him – 1) how to take big risks 2) how to value community. It wasn’t too long in the making but for us as an agency, I think it was a really good evolutionary step. I didn’t want it to end, we had a great time!
What’s the philosophy behind the show?
The philosophy of the show is simple – it’s a intimate assortment of highly curated, best-of-the-best, high end contemporary and premium streetwear brands. All of which are exciting in their own way, edgy, new and frrrrrrrrrresh. We wanted market week to be fun, as it should be. A really good trade show should feel like a productive and happy meeting of the minds! It’s pretty much an extension of who we are and what we try to be as an agency.
Any other things on your horizon?
Babies! Growing our company even more. A published novel or epic poem. A used bookstore and Japanese gift shop. More travel and adventure. Who knows? Every day is a great one; I try to live life in the present…but also dream big.
Got any favorite clothing brands? Stores?
I’m not particularly brand loyal, I just wear whatever I like. My grandmother was a seamstress who passed her knowledge of garments down to my mom who’s a taste-nazi chic freak, so I love clothes across the board, but I don’t care who made them. My only rule - never buy anything at full price. I love Loehmann’s and vintage, Bendel’s and the bins at Good Will. I don’t discriminate. Ooh, but I do love Marc Jacobs.
Do you have much free time? And what do you do when you’re not working?
I try to make free time, sure! My boyfriend and I BOTH like to shop, a lot. I go to the country almost every weekend to see my parents and the trees. I’m also a hyper nerdy bookworm; I’ve always got two or three going at the same time (mostly women writers – of course – from any era or genre).
How would you describe your personal style?
In general, I’m more comfortable in a dress than in sneakers. My personal style depending on the day can be – bohemian love child, dance teacher, sexy secretary, eccentric old poetess, Reality Bites-era grunge, ’round the way girl, downtownmiss, Hawaiian princess, Mariah Carey post-Tommy Mottola or Ralph Lauren renegade. Schizo yes, but somehow always me. I love getting dressed.
What’s your prized possession?
My books and my gazillions of cute dolls, toys, animals, cell phone charms and on and on and on. They’re all equally prized in my mind. Needless to say I have a hard time throwing things out.
Do you go out much? Got any favorite bars, lounges, clubs?
I spent a lot of years as Party Girl and now I’m pretty much retired! I love going home to my sweetheart at the end of the day.
What music have you been listening to lately?
This summer’s been about early ‘90s college radio (Throwing Muses, 10,000 Maniacs, The Sundays, R.E.M.) plus T-pain, Cole Porter and jazz standards and plenty of reggae. Schizo again. Let’s call it complicated. Ha. I love music, it’s a big part of everything for me.
Do you plan on living in NY forever?
Probably yes. But like any ambitious lady I’d like homes in other places too - Westchester, Hawaii and the Costa Brava!
If you smoke, tell us your favorite rolling paper. If you drink, tell us your cocktail/drink of choice.
Coconut flavored or Bambu.
I drink tequila and wine. Like my dad.
Name one New York woman that you would nominate to our Hail Mary list.
CLAW, my sister from another mister – but she’s already topped the list. Other than that,
I have to make it two – my partners Edina and Deirdre…both are Worship Worthy for sure.
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